SKIPPER Simon Francis urged Cherries not to push the panic button and insisted: “We will bounce back.”

The 34-year-old played 90 minutes for the first time in the Premier League for almost 12 months, as Eddie Howe’s men fell to 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool.

Cherries, who lost Nathan Ake and Callum Wilson to injury during the contest, have now slumped to five reverses in a row – their worst run of results for six years.

Asked how his side would get out of their current dip, Francis told afcbTV: “I think we have to draw on experience that we have been here before.

“It’s not the time to panic. It’s not like it’s our first season in the Premier League.

“We do have to have the mindset that it’s a relegation battle for us now. There is no doubt about that, of course you should really think like that at the start of the season – get safety in the Premier League.

“But we put high expectations on ourselves with the squad we’ve got - the best squad I think we’ve had, fully fit, that we’ve had in the Premier League.

“But ultimately the table doesn’t lie. We are where we are and that’s the truth really. We are desperate for that next win.”

He added: “You have to show fight and desire – that is the only way we are going to get out of this.

“The squad is getting thinner, you can’t lie about that. The injuries are not looking good for us but we have been in this position before.

“We’ve got experience of these kind of problems and we will bounce back.

“Morale is not great in the changing room right now, of course. You’d expect that but one thing I know about this squad and this group of players is when we train next week the positivity will be back – it will have to be back.

“That will come from the manager, it will come from myself, the staff and the players because that’s the only way we are going to get results in this game.”