EDDIE Howe refused to wave the white flag on Cherries’ Premier League survival hopes and added: “The love of everything about the club is driving me to give more.”

The Cherries boss was speaking after his side fell four points from safety in the top flight, after Watford’s 2-1 victory over bottom club Norwich on Tuesday.

That result made the task even more difficult for Howe’s men to escape the bottom three with five games of their season remaining, starting with tomorrow’s home clash with Tottenham (6pm).

Asked what was motivating him to keep up the fight to beat the drop, Howe said: “You want to achieve. You want to do your very best for the football club.

“I love this club so much – love every part of it.

“I am determined to do everything in my power to maintain our Premier League status. That’s the big drive for me.

“The love of the club, the love of everything about the club is driving me to give more in our fight against relegation.”

He added: “It’s been the hallmark of the team and the club. In adversity, in difficult moments, we come together and surprised people and we have to do that now more than ever.

“Why should we raise the flag or sink into the negativity that’s around us? No chance. We are still in there fighting, we still have games that can change our season.”

Cherries have taken just one point from their past eight league contests and have only won twice in the division since the turn of the year.

Asked how he was coping personally with the situation, 42-year-old Howe replied: “I think it’s a difficult moment for us. There’s no denying that. It’s been very difficult to take the results, personally.

“It’s in a period where I’ve definitely been hurting.

“Nothing has affected my motivation to turn it around, though. I think that’s the key thing.

“With every disappointment and setback I’ve had in my career – and I’ve had plenty of those all the way though – I’ve always maintained the desire to respond and we still have time to do that this season. That’s what I’ve focused on.”

He added: “I see a lot of hurt in the dressing room. A lot of players who really do care.

“If you looked at our dressing room after recent games, there’s certainly not been a lack of those type of emotions.

“We’ve got great professionals here. I’ve always maintained that and I still maintain that to this day despite the results going against us.

“The players are determined to try to turn it round. We still have time to do that, we still have the opportunity to do that.

“So instead of focusing on all the negatives, which is easy to do, we have to focus on the positives and our opportunity now to get results, to still define what’s left of the season.”