RESOLUTE Harry Arter insisted Cherries had not been guilty of showing too much respect to their Premier League rivals.

And the combative midfielder argued that overall displays rather than a specific mindset had cost Cherries valuable points to date this season.

The Dorset side are without a league victory in two months and slipped into the relegation zone for the second time following a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle a fortnight ago.

That loss followed league defeats to Southampton, Tottenham and Manchester City, games in which Cherries conceded a combined 12 goals.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow's trip to Swansea (3pm), Arter told the Daily Echo: "It's a tricky one because there is giving teams too much respect and then there's travelling away and having to respect teams' quality.

"In the Southampton game, I wouldn't say we respected them too much, I just feel we didn't perform anywhere near as well as we could. We went away from our principles in the first half and were left kicking ourselves.

"People talk about respecting teams too much if we've had a bad game but sometimes I feel it's about just not performing.

"If we don't perform, we won't get anything in this league. I feel it's more down to that than anything else.

"Against Manchester City, Tottenham and Southampton we deserved not to get anything but against Newcastle we were desperately unlucky. We dominated the whole game and came away scratching our heads because we had not won."

The 25-year-old believes that Cherries can learn lessons from Swansea's maiden season in the Premier League in 2011-12, when the Welsh side won just three of their opening 14 top-flight games under Brendan Rodgers.

Swans went on to avoid the drop comfortably as they finished 11th in the table and have since recorded ninth, 12th and eighth-place finishes.

Arter said: "Swansea have done really well and it's nice to see a team stick to their principles and be successful.

"They didn't start their first season in the Premier League too well but stuck to what they believed in and, ultimately, got their reward. Hopefully, we can replicate that.

"They built on what they did in that first season by signing really good players and have gone to the next level.

"We are trying to build so for us, Swansea are a good side to look at."

Arter added: "I feel that Saturday is going to be a really tough game.

"We need to respect them but not give them too much respect, and try and get the three points.

"We have to believe we can get something and I honestly believe we can. I'm sure the manager believes that and that will rub off on everyone."