Soccer-Howe hoping Bournemouth 'create history' at Southampton

March 31 (Reuters) - Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe is hoping to lead his side to their first away victory over south coast rivals Southampton when the teams meet at the St Mary's Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday.

Bournemouth have failed to win on 12 visits to face Southampton, a run stretching back to 1953.

"We've never won at Southampton, so we want to create history this weekend," Howe told reporters on Friday. "From our perspective, this weekend is a bit of a different game for us. We want to give our supporters something to shout about."

An eight-game run without a win in the league, from the start of the year to early March, was threatening to drag Bournemouth into the relegation battle, but back-to-back victories has lifted the club to 11th, nine points above the bottom three.

"We've been more consistent recently, but we know there's a long way to go and that we have a tough run of fixtures ahead," Howe added.

On-loan midfielder Jack Wilshere, who left Arsenal in search of more game time, has been relegated to the bench in Bournemouth's last three league games.

Wilshere, once regarded as one of the brightest young hopes in English soccer before a series of injury setbacks, has been strongly linked with a move to AC Milan and Howe admits he is unsure where the 25-year-old will be plying his trade next season.

"Jack will be the one that decides his future, obviously in conjunction with Arsenal," Howe added.

"He just wanted to have the best season that he can ... it will be interesting to see what happens beyond that point." (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Potter)