Harry Arter Highlights Key Factor in Bournemouth's Draw With Spurs

Bournemouth showcased exactly why they are a tough, top-flight side following a hard fought 0-0 draw at home to title contendersTottenham Hotspur last Saturday - and midfield general Harry Arter was keen to point to his side's high tempo in the game.

Speaking to the club'swebsiteafter the match, Arter said: "I felt that if we were going to get anything from the game then it was going to be down to how hard we worked off the ball.

''One of Tottenham's biggest strengths is their work-rate, so we had to match them - and probably do better than them in that sense.

"I felt we did and fully deserved our point.They have quality players and if you just let them have the ball they can hurt you.So the manager wanted me and the rest of the players to be on the front foot and not let them settle on the ball. That's what we tried to do.

"Look how we played against them last year “ we got turned over pretty easily in both games.We had to change our mindset against them.

''It's not easy to do that because we had bad results [against Tottenham] and the performances last year made it pretty easy for them.We had to change something and credit to everyone because we worked as hard as we possibly could. On another day we could have nicked a goal at the end."

💬@HarryArter2 on the key ingredients in #afcb's recent performances.

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Arter has been one of the Cherries' star performers this season and was even mentioned for an England call up, but an internet storm confirmed the midfielder's allegiance to the Republic of Ireland, for whom he has three international caps.

Eddie Howe's side currently sit in 10th place in the Premier League table and travel to the Riverside Stadium on Saturday to take on Middlesbrough.

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