Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has claimed that his players proved against Liverpool that they are "good enough" for the Premier League.
Two contentious refereeing decisions dominated the fallout of the Cherries' 1-0 defeat to Liverpool on Monday night.
Tommy Elphick's goal was disallowed by match official Craig Pawson for a foul on Dejan Lovren, while Christian Benteke's strike stood, despite Philippe Coutinho being in an offside position and appearing to impact play when the ball was sent into the box.
Despite losing both of their opening league fixtures, Howe believes that the newly-promoted side have proven that they do not fear the teams above them.
"I think [the performance against Liverpool] sent a message to ourselves - that we're good enough, we're able to do what we want to do," Howe told Sports Mole.
"Of course we haven't got any points on the board yet, so there's certain elements of our game still not functioning, but hopefully the message was to ourselves that we do have nothing to fear going to the big teams."
On Saturday, Howe's side will take on West Ham United at Upton Park.
Danielle Joynson
