GARY O’Neil insists Cherries “really want to finish the season strong” having already achieved their main goal of avoiding relegation.

Cherries all but secured Premier League survival with back-to-back wins last week over Southampton and Leeds United.

They require a result against Chelsea tomorrow to mathematically be ensured of avoiding the drop, but boss O’Neil believes they are effectively safe given their nine-point gap to the bottom three and sitting up in 13th with just four games to play.

Asked what the new target is for the remainder of the season, O’Neil said: “The main thing really is we are professional footballers and we’ve set ourselves a high level all season.

“Obviously sometimes it’s led to results, sometimes it hasn’t. But when you come in at five o’clock, if you’ve lost 2-0, you’re still going to feel terrible.

“That’s regardless of whether we are on 39 points or whether we were on 32 or whatever it is.

“Losing a football match, the other team getting the better of you, the other coach getting the better of me, you’re still going to feel terrible at that point.

“Let’s do whatever we can do and work our socks off to make sure we enjoy the next four weeks and then I think the points tallies and things we can look to get to.”

Discussing the mood around the training ground this week with the pressure valve of a relegation battle eased somewhat, O’Neil said: “I’ve been impressed with them this week, actually.

“They had a couple of days off after what was a big win for us and a big week.

“They’ve come back in and we’ve spoken about what the next four games need to look like for us. But, of course, they have earned the right to feel a little bit less pressure for the next four games.

“I’m looking forward to seeing them perform.

“There’s still a lot of points available to us and as the head coach of the team, I’m desperate to put as many points on the board as possible, regardless of the situation.

“I really want to finish the season strong and then take that into the summer break with us.”

Should O’Neil’s men collect eight or more points in their last four fixtures, which includes trips to Crystal Palace and Everton as well as home games with the Blues and Manchester United, they would eclipse the club’s record points tally for a top-flight season. That stands at 46 points in the 2016-17 campaign.

But O’Neil insists breaking that record is not a motivating factor.

“No, the target is still the same, it’s still Chelsea,” he said.

“People ask me about points tallies all season, what I felt we’d need to stay up and now you guys are trying to get me to commit to another one!

“But it’s just trying to beat Chelsea at the weekend, add another three points and my aim is to get as many as we can.

“If that’s more than 46, great. If it means we have to work our socks off and we can only get 42 or 43 then so be it.

“But we’ll be giving everything we can, as we have done, to try and put as many on the board as possible.”