BOSS Eddie Howe felt Cherries’ impressive showing during their Premier League opener had vindicated his team selection.

Howe kept faith with the majority of the players who had served Cherries well in winning the Championship last season.

No fewer than nine of the 11 starters had been regulars for Cherries last season, while six featured in the League One promotion campaign.

Artur Boruc, whose loan move was made permanent in the summer, and Joshua King were the only new signings to start, while Max Gradel came off the bench.

Howe, who handed Premier League debuts to seven players, said: “With Max only having a couple of days training, we felt we didn’t want to expose him too early without really knowing how we play.

“When you play as we do, you need players in sync with each other and it takes time for partnerships to develop.

“Tyrone (Mings) is a little short on full fitness due to an injury during pre-season so there were reasons behind certain decisions.

"We wanted to give a platform to the players who did so well for us in winning the league last season to prove they are good enough to step up to this level.

"I felt it was the right decision to stay loyal to the main group.”