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Harry Arter hails Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe for sticking to principles

Though Chelsea were toothless in attack and much of the focus will be on them losing, Bournemouth fought valiantly for their result and at times were the better team.

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The Cherries had not won for eight matches after beating Sunderland on September 19 and Howe’s tactics were starting to come under the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

Murray was the match-winner at Stamford Bridge, scoring 99 seconds after coming on to secure a 1-0 victory and leave Chelsea just three points above the relegation zone and turn the spotlight firmly back onto their manager Jose Mourinho.

When you come to the champions and a side like Chelsea, we were expecting a really tough game and we got that.

“We are keen to always try and play our way”, he said.

Arsenal also exploited City’s misstep at Stoke with a 3-1 home win over Sunderland that took Arsene Wenger’s side up to second place in the table.

There was plenty of excitement when Stoke pulled off arguably the biggest transfer in their history just over three months ago in acquiring Xherdan Shaqiri.

“It’s great for their own self-belief that we can come here and win if we can do that we can do it anywhere”.

“Time wasting? That’s not part of what we do. We did that and I am sure that will be most pleasing for all of the lads”.

“Chelsea played well and had a lot of possession, but we were able to go down the other end, take our chance and get a goal”.

Asked whether the Bournemouth squad will be having a Christmas party, Howe said: “I hope not”. “His arm’s there, it’s not moved towards the ball”.

“In the first half I thought it was quite even. Second half we’ve come under some pressure, we’ve had to dig in, we’ve had to defend, bodies on the line”.

Shorn of the injured Wayne Rooney, it was a frustrating outcome for Louis van Gaal’s side, who face Wolfsburg in Germany on Tuesday needing to win to be certain of progressing in the Champions League. The Cherries started out the season as the most exciting of the three promoted teams this season, but injuries have left them badly depleted and struggling for any kind of positive form.

“It gives the players some reward for how hard they’ve worked”, Howe added.

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“We dominated the game but one refereeing mistake cost us”, Mourinho said.

AFC Bournemouth Three things we learned from the 1-0 win at Chelsea