Eddie Howe: Bournemouth found inner strength to beat Arsenal

Eddie Howe praised Bournemouth's fighting spirit and "inner strength" after they came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 on Sunday.

Hector Bellerin put the Gunners ahead shortly after half-time at the Vitality Stadium.

But the Cherries responded with two goals in four minutes from Callum Wilson and Jordon Ibe to secure their first Premier League win over Arsenal.

"It was a hard-fought win," Bournemouth boss Howe told Sky Sports. "We worked incredibly hard, we had a game plan to make it uncomfortable for them and try to get after them.

"That worked to a degree but we went 1-0 down and had to fight back again, so real credit to the players for finding that inner strength to do it because the game was pretty flat at that moment from our perspective."

Reflecting on how Bournemouth turned the game around, Howe said: "We are a fit team, the statistics show that, so energy wise I felt we were always going to get stronger as the game went on.

"The substitutes made a difference too, we went a bit more attacking with the personnel and the wing-backs became more of a threat.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

"The two goals were of high quality so I am really pleased that gave us the boost towards the end of the game."

Ibe's goal was his first in the Premier League for Bournemouth.

And Howe said: "It will do him the world of good, he has deserved that in recent weeks. He has been peppering the goal and his performances have been of real high quality.

"He has got a number of assists, so those figures are up, and now he has a goal, so hopefully it's the first of many."

Fantasy Head to Head

Challenge a mate in our brand new Fantasy Football head-to-head mode. Play for free!