Eddie Howe warned his Bournemouth players they remain at risk of relegation after their 3-1 defeat at home to Burnley on Saturday.
The Cherries sit 10 points clear of the bottom three and 18th-placed Cardiff, who have a game in hand, but again played with such a lack of confidence that the gap could narrow over the coming weeks.
By falling to 13th they also find themselves within two points of Burnley, who at kick-off had appeared at greater risk of losing their Premier League status.
To make matters worse the Cherries took an early lead through an Ashley Barnes own goal but then conceded three sloppy goals, with Chris Wood, Ashley Westwood and Barnes on target for the Clarets.
At the end of October Howe’s team were challenging for European football but, with only five victories since, their form has become a significant concern, and the 41-year-old Howe said: “I don’t know how many times I’ve got to say that we’re not safe.
“I don’t consider myself safe and on my holidays and the players are the same. Until someone says we’re mathematically safe that will be the case.
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You can’t take liberties in this game. “We had a good start and you thought that was the lift we needed but we didn’t deal well with Burnley’s threats.
We came under pressure, the wind was against us and we didn’t deal with it. “The biggest disappointment for us was the second half.
You expected us to pen them in and put them under pressure but that pressure didn’t really come. “We made individual mistakes for which we need to take collective responsibility. We made too many bad decisions on the ball in that second half.”
