TOMMY Elphick said Cherries aimed to be aggressive from the start against Southampton.

The AFC Bournemouth assistant manager spoke to the media after Cherries beat their south coast neighbours 3-1 at the Vitality Stadium, after a sensational first half saw them enter the break 3-0 up.

Elphick said Andoni Iraola and his coaching staff had aimed to try and capitalise on Saints efforts to prove their style was suited to the way Cherries play.

“When you come up against a different style, such contrast in styles, it was built up before the game quite a bit,” he said.

“They've tried to obviously prove that our style was suited to the way they want to play.

“So, it was for us when we saw it, as I say, it was a time to go real aggressive and try to capitalise on that, which I thought we did to a t.”

The 37-year-old said he was really happy with the performance.

“[We’ve] said plenty of times before now it's performance that's been coming,” Elphick said.

“The way we've trained in the last eight or nine days has come to fruition tonight.

“It was the game that we expected when we saw the team sheets come out as well. You know, they were certainly going to try and overload the middle of the pitch and try and play through us.

“So it was a game that we were looking forward to and the first 45 minutes was electric from our point of view.”

The three points sees Cherries move up the table to 11th, leapfrogging Manchester United and Brentford.

On the start to the season, Elphick said: “[A] good start. Could have been more.

“We've been on the end of some controversial decisions, if you like. Some stuff that could have gone our way, unfortunately went against us. So we sit here, it could have been a little bit more.

“We're in a good place, but we got another massive game at the weekend and try and go into the break with a healthier points tally.”

The Saints game was the first of two games Cherries are looking to target, with a trip to face Leicester at the King Power Stadium up next on Saturday.

“I think with the way we play and the style we play, we always look to go and win games, no matter who it is,” Elphick said. “But after the start we had, these two games are massive.

“They were built up to us the minute we walked in the door after the Liverpool game, these were two massive opportunities to go into the break and you could be looking up the table or down the table after these two games.”