Andoni Iraola insists Bournemouth have sufficient attacking threat to do damage to Manchester City as his unfancied side seek to make a small piece of history.

The Cherries have never beaten the reigning European champions and lost each of the 12 previous Premier League meetings between the clubs, by an aggregate score of 38-6.

Bournemouth boss Iraola is well aware of the extent of the challenge but says his players cannot allow Saturday afternoon’s tricky away fixture to become a case of attack versus defence.

He said: “We have to think in ourselves, give 100 per cent, try to recover, try to prepare mentally to having moments where you are going to suffer, where you are going to be pressed.

“Then we have to pass those moments because I also think we have the offensive threats to make them also think that we can damage them.

“We’ll be for sure in a low block for some minutes because almost all the teams are against City.

“But we have to also make them think that they have to defend, they have to run backwards.

“They have to be aware of our offensive players and this is very important because otherwise it just becomes a game of one direction, everyone is pushing forward.

“And I think we have to find the moment to make them think, ‘OK, let’s be careful here because otherwise we are going to suffer’.”

Bournemouth travel to the Etihad Stadium sitting in 17th position.

The Cherries climbed out of the relegation zone by beating Burnley 2-1 last weekend to register their first top-flight win under Iraola at the 10th attempt.