ANDREW Surman reckons Cherries are better placed to close the gap on the Premier League’s big guns than his previous clubs – despite their chastening experiences to date.

The midfielder helped Wolves and Norwich acclimatise following their promotions to the top flight in 2009 and 2011 and is targeting a third successful safety mission in Dorset.

Eddie Howe’s injury-ravaged squad has found life tough so far, particularly against the leading lights with consecutive 5-1 defeats to Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur in October.

Those setbacks highlighted the argument that Cherries could rue dropping points against teams expected to battle for similar positions in the table but Surman believes they are capable of redressing the balance – even against the very best.

Surman told the Daily Echo: “I have been through times like this before, most players have whatever level you’re playing at but I think it is important not to get too down because there are a lot of games left.

“Apart from (Manchester) City and Spurs, I haven’t felt like we have been outplayed. We have been in every game and unfortunate not to pick up more points, particularly against Watford and Leicester when we went one up.

“We have to try to stay positive and take more of our chances because when you do, it gives you that bit of momentum.

“You look at Leicester winning seven out of their last nine games last season to stay up. I know it’s not that drastic at the moment but it shows what can be done. We just need to get a couple of wins and everything can grow from there."

Asked if he felt Cherries had a better chance of taking points from the top teams than his past haunts, Surman said: “I think so, yes. You can see that from the performances, we have played really well at times.

“We have enough quality to stay in the league and win games, I have that firm belief and I am sure the rest of the players do as well.”

Cherries head into Saturday’s trip to Swansea in the bottom three on the back of six winless matches, the latest a luckless 1-0 defeat to fellow strugglers Newcastle prior to the international break.

But after largely outplaying the Magpies, Surman says there is no reason to erase the memory of an ultimately painful afternoon.

“We passed the ball well against Newcastle, we were a lot braver and I think we created more chances that we have recently. Off the ball, we got back to basics and our values that brought us a lot of success.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion and when you are on a run like this, the public and pundits will write you off but we have a massive belief in ourselves. We can’t get affected by anything like that, we just have to keep going.”