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Bournemouth ready for tough test against Leicester - manager

Football - Hartlepool United v AFC Bournemouth - Capital One Cup Second Round - Victoria Park - 25/8/15 Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Graham Stuart Livepic (Reuters)

REUTERS - Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe is not surprised by Leicester City's impressive start to the Premier League campaign and predicted a tough test for his players against the Foxes on Saturday. Leicester are second in the table with seven points from three games, scoring seven goals even though they are yet to keep a clean sheet. Whereas, the Cherries had lost their opening two games but won their last game 4-3 against West Ham United, courtesy of a hat-trick from Callum Wilson. "We respect Leicester, they've had a flying start," the 37-year-old Howe told the club's website (www.afcb.co.uk). "That's no surprise really because they've got a good manager and a good bunch of players. "They are very well organised and, looking at their opening games, they'll be a tough nut to crack," the Englishman added. Howe praised his counterpart Claudio Ranieri and said he was looking forward to see how the former Chelsea manager approaches the clash. "Claudio Ranieri was a great appointment for them. You only have to look at the teams he has managed to realise he knows what he is doing," Howe said. "It's going to be a really good test for us to come up against a side managed by him and the way he sets them up will be intriguing," he added. The match at the Vitality Stadium will be Bournemouth's second home fixture of the season and Howe emphasised the importance of his side's home form this term. "Our home form is going to be very important this season, I think every manager would say that," the former Burnley manager said. "At the heart of a successful season is always good form at home in front of your own supporters," he added. Ranieri refuses to get ahead of the Foxes' blistering start to the campaign and insists he is fully focused on Saturday's game against Bournemouth. "I can smile but I said we must be very calm and continue to work hard. Our goal is to save Leicester and reach 40 points as soon as possible," Ranieri told the club website (www.lcfc.com). "The next match is a difficult match. Bournemouth are a good team. They didn't deserve to lose two matches against Liverpool and Aston Villa. They won at West Ham and now they want to beat us -- it's normal. "I've watched two or three of their matches and they play well, they play very compact and very good. For us it will be a very difficult match," the 63-year-old Italian added. (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)