Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has heaped praise on Harry Arter for the way he performed against Manchester United, just days after the death of his daughter.
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In fact, Junior Stanislaus appeared to dedicate his opening goal to Arter, runing towards the midfielder after scoring into the top corner directly from a corner, where Arter was mobbed by his teammates.
Arter was close to tears when booked for a fulsome challenge, with Cherries boss Howe embracing his combative star on the final whistle.
“Pace is such an important thing in any league, but even more so in the Premier League”, he said.
“He showed real strength to keep his emotions in check, and I’ve got to say his team-mates rallied around him really well”, added Howe.
Howe admitted that it was an emotional dressing room following the win: “It’s been a hugely emotional week for him”, said Howe.
“I’m really proud of him, but the pain for them won’t go away. I want to pay tribute to him and his family for how courageous he was in his performance, he was absolutely magnificent”. “I’ve practised on that (corner) drill and missed the chance every time but I’m glad it went in today”.
It’s been a tumultous week for the Republic of Ireland global, as professional triumphs over Chelsea and Manchester United paled in comparison to his personal tragedy.
And with the January transfer window set to shortly reopen for business, Howe refused to rule out bringing in more players after King was added to the club’s ever-lengthening injury list against United.
“We wanted to bounce back today. We have got to get back to doing that as quickly as possible”.
The Cherries’ rise – their win puts them up to 14th, a point and a place above Chelsea – may have surprised some people but not King, who after signing for United as a 16-year-old never made the grade there as he was waylaid by injuries.
“Also against Wolfsburg it was already the reason why we lost, so it’s a very strong lesson for us”.
“Last week I felt afterwards I felt maybe I disrespected Harry a bit given his win over Manchester United, that was a terrific achievement for that group of players and him”.
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“We still felt that it was going to be a very hard game and we would have to surpass the Chelsea performance to win, there was no other thought than that”, Howe said. “We’ve practiced on it in training and I’ve missed every time”.
