Going into this season's Championship, few would have predicted that AFC Bournemouth would be challenging for promotion, especially after selling star-striker Lewis Grabban to Norwich this summer.

Going into the international break, they lay in second place, one point behind table topping Derby County, but with 29 games to go, can Bournemouth maintain their push for promotion?

In a league where anyone can beat anyone, you do get shock promotions: there's Burnley last season, Crystal Palace the season before that, and most famously of all, Blackpool in 2009/10. All three of those have something in common: all of those teams had a manager that knew the Championship like the back of his hand.

Sean Dyche had three seasons of Championship managerial experience and a further two seasons as an assistant manager (at Watford to Malky Mackay). Meanwhile, Ian Holloway, who took both Blackpool and Crystal Palace to the Premier League is a Championship stalwart.

In Eddie Howe, Bournemouth have another manager with a wealth of Championship experience. In three seasons at Burnley, he made the Lancashire outfit a solid, if unspectacular, Championship side. Now at Bournemouth, he guided the Cherries to a brilliant 10th placed finish in their first season back in the second tier of English football.

Player wise Bournemouth don't have any stand out stars, but that's probably a good thing for them. Cardiff, Wigan and Fulham all have star-names at Championship level, but they are all struggling.

This makes a team ethic evident. Again, Burnley, Blackpool and Crystal Palace had no stars, but they have a team ethic, and that is another factor behind their respective promotions. What Bournemouth do have is Championship experience though. Yann Kermorgant came close to promotion with Leicester in 2010, Brett Pitman spent 2 full seasons with Bristol City, Ian Harte has bags of Championship experience and Junior Stanislas was at Burnley with Howe.

They also have young, hungry and talented youngsters such as Callum Wilson. He's scored nine goals so far this season in 14 appearances, that's just one goal behind the top goalscorers in the division.

There's also players that have historically plied their trade in Leagues One and Two. Matt Ritche and Simon Francis are two of these types of players, and they have been in good form so far this season. Ritchie tops the assists rankings thus far this season with eight assists and Francis has four to his name.

A player that does stand out though is Artur Boruc. The Polish goalkeeper has moved on loan to Bournemouth from Southampton after Fraser Forster joined the Saints.

The Pole was Southampton's number one last season and he's unfortunate that England international Forster has put him out of the team. Boruc is a very astute signing from Howe and if they can keep him past the January expiry of his loan, then Bournemouth will be well set for a promotion tilt.

The Championship is a marathon, not a sprint, but Bournemouth have covered the first few miles brilliantly, but it's still a long way to go yet.

Whilst Bournemouth don't have the most spectacular players, their team ethic combined with a manager that knows the Championship could well see them to a surprise promotion to the Premier League.