CHERRIES boss Andoni Iraola felt his group of players “deserved” their place in club history after setting a new record points haul in a Premier League season.

A 3-0 win over Brighton at Vitality Stadium lifted Cherries up to 10th in the Premier League table, with 48 points from 35 games.

AFC Bournemouth’s previous best tally for a top-flight season had been 46 in the 2016/17 season under Eddie Howe.

In recent weeks Iraola and his players had openly discussed how breaking the record was their primary target.

Asked about the achievement, Iraola shared: “I think this group deserved after what they've done this season, I think they deserved to arrive to this point.

“Especially considering how we started.

“I think the players have been growing into the season.

“They are finishing really well.

“And we still have three more games.

“Difficult, we know, but we will try to finish it well also.”

Goals from Marcos Senesi, Enes Unal, and Justin Kluivert saw Cherries comfortable winners over Brighton, whilst also lifting Bournemouth back into the top half of the Premier League table.

Cherries had lost the reverse fixture 3-1 at the Amex back in September, with Iraola believing the Seagulls to be a tough nut for teams to crack.

“We are proud (of beating Brighton) as well,” restarted the Basque boss.

“I think it has been a very, very complete performance because to play against Brighton is always very difficult.

“You know that you will be a lot of time without the ball and we were really disciplined without the ball, really disciplined, especially the players up front, in the midfield to try to keep the spaces we wanted.

“And then when we recover the ball, we had the spaces to exploit and damage them.

“Today was a really difficult game for us.

“We were very short of players, very short.

“And we knew that some of the players had to finish the game, had to give us the most minutes they could.

“And I appreciate it a lot.

“Marcos (Senesi) he finished really hard the other day.

“He has made a great effort to play today, a great effort and I think they deserved the three points today.”

Cherries have three Premier League games remaining, starting with a trip to title-chasing Arsenal next Saturday, May 4.

Brentford visit Dean Court in Cherries’ final home game of the campaign on Saturday, May 11, before Bournemouth finish the season away at Chelsea on Sunday, May 19.