AFC BOURNEMOUTH accept meeting an August deadline to become fully compliant with disability access requirements at their current Vitality Stadium home "will prove extremely challenging".

A report by the Culture, Media and Sport select committee listed Bournemouth as one of four Premier League clubs - the others being Chelsea, Liverpool and Crystal Palace - likely to miss the deadline.

Bournemouth are in the process of identifying a site to build a new stadium for the start of the 2020/21 season, with the current 11,464-capacity Vitality Stadium, which the club do not own, the smallest in the top flight.

The club accepted the need to meet all access requirements, and said they hope to be able to do so fully when eventually in a new stadium.

A club statement read: "AFC Bournemouth are aware of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee report which states the Cherries are one of a number of Premier League clubs who will not comply with disability access commitments by an August deadline.

"The club is working hard to meet as many of the commitments as possible and are confident that the majority will be completed in that time frame.

"However, due to the structural and logistical nature of Vitality Stadium, which is not owned by the club, meeting the full commitment will prove extremely challenging.

"This includes the requirement for 81 elevated wheelchair positions at different points around the ground - something that could see a significant number of seats removed from what is already the smallest capacity stadium in the Premier League.

"It is already in the public domain that AFC Bournemouth are currently working towards moving into a new stadium in time for the 2020/21 season, and the club have assured the Premier League that all disability access requirements will be met in this proposed facility."

Members of the select committee say they will support the Equality and Human Rights Commission in taking legal action against individual clubs and their respective governing bodies in the event of evidence of their "systemic" non-compliance.

The report's authors quoted Premier League executive director Bill Bush as stating that if the league's member clubs fail to comply with the Accessible Stadia Guide by August 2017, then the Premier League board has the power to impose a wide range of sanctions including fines of £25,000 or, in the event of more serious breaches, referral to a specially appointed independent panel which could impose heavier fines or even deduct points.

The Accessible Stadia Guide was funded and established by the Football Stadia Improvement Fund and the Football Licensing Authority in 2015.