Six points clear with seven to play and Gary O’Neil was prepared to admit he would celebrate with a cup of tea and might consider watching the highlights of Bournemouth’s first-ever win at Tottenham on Match of the Day.
There is still hard work ahead and O’Neil was not about to invite his players to put their feet up but it is worth pausing to applaud the job done thus far by the head coach since he took control at the end of August.
By way of reminder, Bournemouth had lost three Premier League games in a row, leaking 16 goals and scoring none against Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.