LLOYD Kelly insists any negativity surrounding the club heading into the start of the season had not been affecting the squad.

Despite losing eight players following promotion to the Premier League, Cherries failed to spend any money in the transfer market until less than a week before the season started.

The club's first two signings of the window, free agents Ryan Fredericks and Joe Rothwell, are still nursing injuries. But Marcus Tavernier did arrive for an initial reported fee of £10million from Middlesbrough, following the club's pre-season defeat to Real Sociedad.

Speaking after that loss, boss Scott Parker said Cherries were "way short of where we need to be".

Bookmakers have also written off Cherries' chances of survival, with most making Parker's men odds-on favourites for relegation before a ball had been kicked.

Cherries instantly upset the odds by starting their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa on the opening day.

Asked about the feeling around the club heading into the start of the season, captain Kelly told the Daily Echo, following that win over Villa: "It’s the outside, it’s all the external things that us as players we don’t have to worry about.

"We’ve just got to stay focused on what we’re doing in training and when the games come, we need to be ready.

"I think all the external noise and you could say the pressure put on whoever at the club or whatever is irrelevant for us players.

"We’ve just got to do our job and make sure we perform and go out with the same mindset in every game."

He added: "It (beating Villa) was massive for us. Obviously we want to get off to a good start and the gaffer spoke to us before the game and he said to just focus on the performance and the mentality going into the game. I think we did that to a tee."

Focus now switches to a daunting looking run of fixtures.

Cherries head to champions Manchester City tomorrow, before games against Arsenal and Liverpool.

"This is the Premier League and the quality is another level in that sense," said Kelly.

"The games coming up are, of course, going to be tough and we can’t deny that. But we’ve just got to focus on what we have to do.

"Of course going to Man City is tough for anyone.

"I think we’ve got to do a lot of work this week going into that game and I’m sure we will and the gaffer’s message throughout the week is going to be different from last week."