BULLISH defender Steve Cook is adamant that no one in the Cherries camp has even mentioned relegation.

And the 24-year-old insists that the squad are fully focused on climbing the table rather than preserving their current position.

Cherries are five points clear of the drop zone with 13 games remaining of the club's maiden Premier League campaign.

Eddie Howe's side suffered just their third defeat in 13 league fixtures at home to title-chasers Arsenal on Sunday, that positive run helping them to climb out of the relegation places to 15th in the table.

And Cook says that Cherries have full belief in their ability to retain top-flight football at the first time of asking.

He told the Daily Echo: "We're confident and I think that's all that matters.

"We know that we can pick up enough points to stay in the league. No one has talked about not being here next year.

"We are looking up. We are five points behind Watford and they are 10th, so we are as close to the top half as we are to the bottom three.

"No one has even mentioned going down a division and I don't see why we should.

"It shows how far we've come that we were very disappointed to lose at home to Arsenal, who are going for the title.

"We are now concentrating on bouncing back from the result at the weekend and moving clear of the bottom three.

"It's so tight in the table that one win can take you higher and one loss can bring you closer to the drop zone."

Cherries face the likes of Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United in the final two months of the season, with the trip to Spurs kicking off that tricky run on Sunday, March 19.

And while Cook knows how difficult those clashes will be, he insists that Cherries' opponents before then – including Newcastle and Swansea – will also provide stern resistance.

Mid-table Stoke are next up on Saturday and the centre-half said: "We all know the run we've got at the end of the season so the earlier we get those points, the better.

"All games are as important as each other and we've got to keep picking up points. Stoke at home is another tough game but it's definitely winnable.

"We had a really tough run in December which included Chelsea and Man United and we got back-to-back wins in those games. It's the Premier League and everyone can beat everyone, so why can't we do something similar again?

"It's a tough run for us at the end of the season but every team is tough."

Cook, ever present as Cherries won the Championship title and promotion last term, has played his part in all but two of Cherries' 25 Premier League games so far this season.

The former Brighton youngster came very close to doubling his goal tally for 2015-16 against Arsenal when his instinctive late strike was kept out by Gunners keeper Petr Cech.

Cook's only goal of the current campaign came in the 3-1 defeat to Norwich in September when he bagged a late consolation.