SIMON Francis says Eddie Howe’s history with Burnley is on Cherries’ players minds as they prepare to do battle with the Lancashire club on Saturday.

Howe spent 22 months in charge of the Clarets before returning for his second spell at Cherries’ helm in October 2012.

He has taken his current club back to Turf Moor only once previously, when the sides drew a Championship encounter three years ago.

Asked by the Daily Echo if Howe’s players are especially motivated to do well for their manager at the home of his former employers, Francis said: “There obviously is that thought at the back of the players’ minds. You’d have to ask the manager if it’s a more important one for him.

“We are aware of the situation for him but we want to go out and win every game for him so Burnley is no different in that respect.”

Francis also revealed his team will travel north determined to heed a harsh recent lesson.

After turning in a terrific performance in drawing with Spurs in October, Cherries suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

And Cherries' skipper is desperate to avoid a similar fate following Sunday’s astonishing victory over Liverpool.

“It’s almost a carbon copy of the situation we were in after the Spurs game,” said Francis. “We had a great result (0-0) and played as well as we have done this season.

“Then we knew the Middlesbrough and Sunderland games were massive for us but they didn’t produce the results we wanted.

“We’ve learned from that and we’re determined not to make the same mistake again at Burnley.”

Cherries twice trailed by a two-goal margin against Liverpool, before staging a thrilling comeback to win 4-3.

But Francis insists the dramatic end to the game won’t be allowed to mask the deficiencies that landed his side in bother in the first place.

He said: “We reflect on every game, analyse it and look at what we did right and what we did wrong.

“We were disappointed to come in at half-time two goals down so we will look at that aspect of the game. We’ll try to put that right so it doesn’t happen again.

“But more importantly we want to look at the character we showed to come back. "We hope if we’re in that situation again we can use that experience to bounce back in the same way."

When Nathan Ake delivered the knockout blow to Liverpool deep into stoppage time on Sunday nobody celebrated more wildly than Francis.

But was there any story behind his dance of jubilation?

“There have been a few celebrations like that down the years,” he said. “If you ask some of the lads there have been some funny ones I’ve had a bit of stick for.

“But when you win a game against a team like Liverpool, 4-3 in the 93rd minute, you just kind of lose control... and that’s what happened.”