PUNDIT Graeme Souness believes Cherries have "got to keep their nerve” throughout their season-defining Premier League run-in, to keep alive the club’s “incredible” top-flight exploits.

The former Scotland international, who has regularly watched Cherries along with his media work for Sky Sports, was full of praise for the job done by Eddie Howe to put the club on the global stage.

And Liverpool legend Souness, a winner of three European cups with the Reds, is hoping the Dorset club can perform when it matters at the business end of the campaign.

Asked what he had made of Cherries this season, the 67-year-old said: “I think by their own standard they have been disappointing. I know the injuries have hurt them.

“But they’ve always seemed to finish the season well.

“For Bournemouth to survive for five years, it’s been an incredible achievement.

“But it’s a difficult season for them, they’ve got to keep their nerve. They have done that in the past, so hopefully they do it again.”

He added: “I’ve said this, there should be a statue outside the stadium for Eddie Howe, for Bournemouth in the Premier League.

“This is their fifth season in the Premier League, little old Bournemouth. It is an incredible story.

“I managed Blackburn for four years. Blackburn, in Lancashire, a town that people didn’t know where it was.

“But because of football and the Premier League and the profile the Premier League has, people in Europe now know where Blackburn Rovers is.

“That’s what’s happened to Bournemouth. People now are aware of Bournemouth throughout the world that didn’t know before, because of the Premier League football status that they’ve had for five years. It’s some achievement.”

With the division set to restart behind closed doors tonight, Cherries are 18th in the pile, inside the bottom three behind Watford on goal difference.

And Souness admitted it would be tough to call how all clubs would cope with the unprecedented finale to the campaign.

“With this break, okay it’s a chance to get back some of your injured players. You just don’t know what the mood will be of the players coming back,” he added.

“It’s one or two per cent, a small margin that decides games at the highest level.

“If someone’s not quite right, whether it’s psychological or physically – because physically some people need a month of hard training.

“Others need six weeks of hard training. Some need four of five games to get up to speed, others need 10 games to get up to speed.

“There’s so many anomalies in there, you just don’t know with each club what they are going to get or what they are going to produce.”