CHERRIES boss Eddie Howe urged his players not to let their heads drop and admitted: “We are in a key stage of the season.”

The Dorset side were thumped 5-0 by Tottenham on Saturday, a seventh defeat in their past nine Premier League games.

Cherries have dropped into the bottom half of the standings and face a trip to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s rejuvenated Manchester United team on Sunday (4.30pm).

Discussing the loss to Spurs, Howe said: “As much as we want to win these games and perform in them, we have to take them in isolation.

“I don’t think we can go too deep in ourselves. The next game is going to come round very quickly.

“We are in a key stage of the season and we have to make sure we keep our focus and not get too down on ourselves.

“We have Manchester United away in our next match so we can’t spend too much time dwelling on (the defeat to Spurs).

“We have to try to learn the lessons from the Tottenham match and try to put it right.”