Eddie Howe hails Bournemouth intensity after Tottenham draw

By Patrick Surlis

Saturday 22 October 2016 15:43, UK

Eddie Howe said Bournemouth's performance in their goalless draw with Spurs on Saturday pleased him more than last weekend's 6-1 win over Hull City.

The hosts frustrated Tottenham at the Vitality Stadium and extended their unbeaten run to four matches in the Premier League.

They convincingly beat Hull last Saturday in their biggest ever Premier League win but Howe said their high-intensity display against one of the title contenders was even more pleasing.

"The 90 minutes today pleased me more [than the 6-1 win last weekend]," Howe told Sky Sports.

"I thought we were very good when you consider who we were playing against and the quality they have. They are an outstanding team.

"We came into the game wanting to match them, to go toe-to-toe, and to play with a really high intensity and be very brave and to see where it got us.

"Our intensity stopped their rhythm and flow, especially in the first half, and it's a really valuable point."

Junior Stanislas, who played a key role in four goals against Mike Phelan's Hull, missed Saturday's match with a calf injury, and there was more bad news for Bournemouth when Andrew Surman was taken ill during the warm-up.

Dan Gosling replaced Surman in the starting lineup at short notice, and Howe was delighted with his contribution, as well as Stanislas' replacement Josh King.

"The lads responded really well for us," the Cherries boss added. "They are two huge players for us.

"Andrew Surman has been an ever present and outstanding. He really is a dictator of play for us and Junior is our chief creator in recent weeks.

"To perform in the manner we did without those two was really pleasing. Josh King and Dan Gosling came in and I thought were terrific."

When asked what caused Surman to pull out minutes before the match, Howe said: "He just felt unwell suddenly and felt in the warm-up he couldn't run and had no energy, so that's not a good sign."

The Bournemouth boss also played down a clash between Harry Arter and Moussa Sissoko after the Tottenham substitute appeared to catch his counterpart with an elbow late on.

On the incident, Howe said: "I didn't see it and I haven't seen a replay yet. Judging by Harry's reaction he's obviously been caught. He was a bit upset about the incident but knowing them [Spurs] and their players, I don't think it was intentional.

"I don't think at that stage of the game either side wanted a red card."

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