ANDONI Iraola says his Cherries charges must improve upon their performance against Aston Villa if they are to reach their “clear goal” for the rest of the campaign.
In his first season as AFC Bournemouth head coach, Iraola has taken Cherries to a comfortable perch in the Premier League table, with 42 points from 33 games.
The Basque boss has confirmed that he hopes to finish the season with a new club record for points in a single Premier League season, aiming to overhaul the highest tally set by Eddie Howe’s team in 2016/17.
- Iraola: Cherries have been talking about setting a new club record for weeks
But Iraola admits it will be difficult, pointing to Cherries’ final five fixtures.
They being the run-in with a trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow evening (7.45pm), before hosting European contenders Brighton & Hove Albion at Vitality Stadium on Sunday.
Bournemouth then travel to title contenders Arsenal on Saturday, May 4, ahead of their final home game against Brentford the following weekend.
- Iraola: Cherries have to deal with ‘key moments’ better to stop dropping points
On the last day of the season Cherries travel back to the capital to play Chelsea.
Cherries were unable to add to their points total last time out, losing 3-1 away at Aston Villa.
Iraola shared: “I think we have a clear goal right now, to beat the points record of Bournemouth.
“I think we can do it, but it’s not going to be easy because we have very difficult games like when we play away again against Wolves after just two days.
“Then we have Brighton, we go Arsenal away.
“They are games that if we want to get the points that we want, we are going to have to have a very, very good performance and that’s what we are looking for.
“I think we couldn’t do it (against Aston Villa) especially the second half and we need to improve if we want to get that.”
