Eddie Howe switches focus to Stoke after win at Chelsea

Posted Friday, February 02, 2018 by PA

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe has told his team to forget their win at Chelsea and concentrate on Stoke.

The Cherries recorded an unexpected, but thoroughly deserved, 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

Bournemouth are now unbeaten in six Premier League matches – a run which saw them also beat Arsenal at the Vitality Stadium – and now sit in 10th place.

Howe, though, knows there can be no room for complacency ahead of Saturday’s visit of Stoke, who themselves are unbeaten in two games under new boss Paul Lambert.

“We are in good form and confidence has returned to the team,” Howe said.

“When you beat teams near the top of the table like Arsenal and Chelsea, it only enhances how good we can be.

“You don’t want to come across as not savouring the performance (at Chelsea), but very quickly we have to put ourselves in the now.

“My job is to take their focus back on to the present, because we can’t live in that moment forever. Very quickly we have to come out of it and focus on Stoke.

“We just need to make sure there are no negative effects from the Chelsea performance, only positives, and how we start against Stoke will be crucial to that.”

Bournemouth were the only Premier League club not to sign any players during the January transfer window, while allowing striker Benik Afobe to join former team Wolves on loan and Lewis Grabban to head to Aston Villa.

The Cherries tried to get defender Chris Mepham in from Brentford and saw a reported £5.5million bid turned down, but Howe has full confidence in his current group.

“There’s no disappointment from us in the sense of what happened during the window,” the Bournemouth boss said at a press conference, broadcast on the club’s official website.

“It is a very difficult market to recruit players in, we have said that time and time again.

“You can find yourself making expensive signings and then maybe not getting value for money at the end of it so we are very happy with what happened.”

Howe added: “I have always maintained throughout the journey here I have total belief in my players, and I think that is the only way you can work.

“The aim for me has always been to improve the players we have rather than look for new players to make a difference.”