EDDIE Howe admitted Cherries had shared the points too often in recent times and revealed plenty of work remained to secure Premier League safety.

Cherries' 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Saturday was their fifth draw in 10 Premier League games and pushed them six points clear of the drop zone.

Nine games remain this season for the Dorset club, who have lost only once in the top flight since Christmas and were denied victory at Leicester by Riyad Mahrez's stunning free-kick deep into second-half stoppage time.

Asked if he felt his team were inching closer to safety, boss Howe said: "We don't look at it like that. We have more work to do. We are in the middle of a decent run but are probably drawing too many games.

"We would have liked to have won a couple of those to edge us closer.

"We're not looking down but we're not looking up either. We are just focusing on ourselves.

"It's been a good run, although it doesn't feel that way this second. We've been a little more resilient and have found ways to get points.

"We've been behind in a few of those games and come back well. Against Leicester it was the other way round.

"I think we've shown in phases the quality we've got, although maybe not in a sustained way. The Chelsea game was probably our best performance and that was where we put it together for the 90 minutes.

"I still feel there is more growth in the team."

Joshua King's first-half penalty at King Power Stadium meant Cherries had found the net for the 10th Premier League game in a row – the first time they had achieved such a milestone in the division.

"We have always been a goalscoring team," said Howe. "We have always been a team on the front foot which wants to attack and naturally, with that, comes goals.

"That's why our early-season form was puzzling because we weren't scoring or creating the number of chances which we usually do.

"It looks like we are back to ourselves in that respect, which is a really good thing."

Howe also expressed gratitude to Cherries fans who made the trip to Leicester in the wake of snowy weather around the country.

He added: "I'm really grateful to the supporters who travelled in these conditions. It's incredible.

"It's not easy to do that with the way the roads were on Friday and today.

"We thank them very much for their support and we are gutted we couldn't give them the win."

Howe confirmed Jordon Ibe and Marc Pugh had missed the game with hamstring and calf injuries, respectively, the manager reporting both problems to be short term.

Scotland international Ryan Fraser was deemed fit enough for a place on the bench despite a back complaint.