RYAN Christie insists Cherries’ squad can quickly move on from recent defeats as they prepare to welcome Newcastle United to Vitality Stadium, adding: “Mentally, we’re still in a good place.”

Since picking up a first Premier League win of the campaign against Burnley at the end of October, Cherries have been knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Liverpool and suffered a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of champions Manchester City.

They face another tough test this weekend ahead of a two-week international break, when Champions League outfit Newcastle come to town.

Discussing the challenge posed by Eddie Howe’s Magpies on Saturday (5.30pm), a club Cherries picked up two points against last season, Christie told the Daily Echo: “Another great game. That’s the standard of the Premier League right now.

“You used to have the top four or top six, it’s just getting wider and wider now.

“We want to compete against these teams.

“You know if you want to do well in this league, you need to take points off these kind of teams.

“We’re back home again, which will be nice, and looking to get a good performance and hopefully a positive result before the internationals.”

All three games at Vitality Stadium last month ended 2-1. Cherries led against Wolves, only to fall to a late defeat after Lewis Cook had been sent off. They then beat the Clarets, before pushing Liverpool all the way in the cup.

Asked if recent home performances have been encouraging, Christie said: “Absolutely. I think that’s what we need to do.

“We kind of did that, certainly at the end point of last season as well.

“Hopefully we can keep doing that and put a string of good results together at home. It will put us a long way in the league.”

And the Scotland international believes the squad will quickly move on from last Saturday’s hammering at the hands of City.

“Yes, 100 per cent,” he said.

“I think in the second half we went to try and go toe-to-toe. It was going to be tough.

“They scored two goals on the counter-attack, but apart from that I think we created a lot more in the second half.

“We played a lot more football in their half, which is a positive. Especially coming off the last two games.

“The Liverpool one was obviously disappointing, but I think anybody watching that game knew it was just a worldie strike from (Darwin) Nunez that separates the teams, because in the second half I think we looked like the team that was going to go on and win.

“I think mentally, we’re still in a good place.

“Obviously (Saturday) was going to be tough and frustrating, but we have a couple of days to get over it and we’re desperate for a positive result at home next weekend against Newcastle before the internationals.”