RETURNING star David Brooks did not play down the magnitude of Cherries’ season-defining eight-game run-in and added: “It’s time to step up and show what we’re about.”

The Wales international made his first appearance of the season in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace following an ankle injury.

He is expected to be part of Eddie Howe’s squad to visit Wolves on Wednesday (6pm) as the Dorset outfit attempt to seek a route out of the bottom three.

In an interview with the Daily Mail earlier this month, Brooks said: “I like the pressure. I like being the main man.”

Asked about the pressure of stepping into a relegation battle, the 22-year-old replied: “We know what’s at stake to the fans, the club and ourselves – and the pride we carry ourselves on.

“We all know the situation we’re in.

“It’s time to step up and show what we’re about and obviously to get ourselves out of the situation we’ve put ourselves in.

“We’re going to push it as far as we can. I expect other teams to do the same.

“I don’t think anyone has got an easy run-in that is in and around us.

“There’s no reason that you should be able to say that we’re not fully committed and believe we can get out of the situation we’re in.”

As well as visiting Molineux, Cherries also have to make the trip to big-guns Manchester City, Manchester United and Everton.

Home fixtures against Newcastle, Tottenham, Leicester and Southampton also await Howe’s troops.

Asked about the visit to Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, Brooks replied: “We go into it like we’ve gone into every other game. We always play to win.

“We have got to be a bit more confident and play our game.

“We need to be confident to start the game like how we finish. I think we’ve obviously got the quality to score goals.

“I’m looking forward to Wednesday and putting it right.”

He added: “A few of the boys do have experience of staying in the Premier League for how long Bournemouth have been in it.

“But it’s a completely different scenario. We’re in the bottom three, we all know what the situation is and we’re all working towards to getting out of it.

“We’re all pushing in the same direction so, hopefully on Wednesday, we put it right and we can kick on.”