Saturday 29 April 2017 18:29, UK
Eddie Howe admitted a sense of relief after Bournemouth passed the 40-point mark with a 1-0 victory over Sunderland on Saturday.
Josh King scored the winner in the 88th minute as the Cherries moved 10 points clear of the relegation zone in the Premier League.
They now look to be assured of top-flight football for a third season in a row, and manager Howe said: "It's a relief. It doesn't mean we are safe but psychologically it's a nice barrier to get past.
"To this point it has been a tremendous achievement as the second season is harder. The first season is a novelty and everybody is just happy to be here, and then there's expectations and you are expected to stay here, but it's never that easy, especially with the quality of the league.
"We haven't done it yet but it's a real achievement to get 40."
King has been a key part of Bournemouth reaching the 40-point mark with his strike against Sunderland his 12th goal in 2017.
"He has worked incredibly hard with us," said Howe. "He shows a great attitude every day and technically he is a great player with physical attributes to go with it.
"We are all about development and trying to improve players but it takes the players to buy into that and I have to give Josh the utmost credit.
"It was a scrappy game from our perspective. I wasn't happy with how we played, but I'm happy with the result obviously.
"We kept going, we showed great attitude, for that I think we just about deserved it."
