LACA GOALS NO BIG DEAL Imports need time... look at Pogba’

BOURNEMOUTH ARSENAL Cherries boss ready to take it Ed-to-head HOLDING OUT FOR CLEAN SHEET

EDDIE HOWE is widely regarded as one of the Premier League’s most mildmannered managers.

But the Bournemouth boss insists he would not be afraid to get embroiled in an Antonio Conte/Jose Mourinho-style war of words if he had to.

Howe (above) has watched on from afar as Chelsea chief Conte and his Manchester United counterpart Mourinho have traded public insults during their bitter row.

Ahead of Bournemouth’s clash with Arsenal today, Howe said: “Like everybody else, I have been listening to it and watching it.

“I wouldn’t take it so seriously or personally. I think it is two people at the very top of the game trying to win psychological points and preparing their teams for battle against future opposition.

“It’s entertaining for everybody to see and read, but I don’t think it’s personal.

“I’m just intrigued to look at it from my perspective as a manager and to analyse it that way.

“It’s a way of just trying to get leverage for future games and to get psychological points.

“And it’s always related to their own team.

“They are doing it for a way to motivate their team at all times.”

Asked if he would engage in a similar spat with a rival, Howe added: “Never say never.

“You just don’t know what situation you will be put in where you feel you have to protect your team or your club.

“It would be foolish of me to say I wouldn’t do that, because I would.

“I would always protect my players and what I felt was right.”

But there would be no danger of Howe coming to blows with Arsene Wenger, even if the Arsenal manager was not completing his touchline ban.

The Cherries supremo, touted as a future successor to Wenger, said: “Arsene is someone I have the utmost respect for.” ARSENE WENGER reckons Alexandre Lacazette will be frustrated by his strike rate — even if the Arsenal frontman won’t admit it.

The French hitman (above) has scored eight goals this season, but has not found the net since the 3-1 defeat by Manchester United at the start of December.

Wenger said: “This guy is used to scoring 30 goals per year... so at the moment, even if he says ‘no’, I am sure he is frustrated.”

Even so, Gunners boss Wenger ( right) is backing the former Lyon star to come good, once Lacazette is fully settled in to life in England.

Wenger pointed out that another Frenchman, Paul Pogba – a player who spent many of his formative years on these shores – still needed a season to get used to life here following his return from Italy.

Wenger, whose side visit Bournemouth today, said: “Pogba now looks settled. He’s dominating physically. But in the first year you can suffer a little bit – the first six months are always difficult. “I would say that the physical pressure on the strikers here in England has become absolutely massive. “Those physical demands and the intensity in the challenges is much bigger than in France.” The festive period is especially demanding for new arrivals. Wenger added: “It is always a surpri surprise for the players. “You accelerate and p play more and the body n needs to get used to it, the mind as well. “It’s a difficult period, this first year, b because the family co comes over and it’s a bit less football-orientated. “But you do get used to it and Lacazette has played many games until now.” Arsenal fans can console themselves with the fact that Thierry Henry did not hit the ground running either – just two goals in his first 17 Arsenal games – and he didn’t turn out too bad. Across London, another Premier League new boy, Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata, has suffered similarly to Lacazette, with a drop in form and ROB HOLDING will settle for the sort of scoreline Arsenal became famous for under George Graham today if it means avoiding a repeat of last season’s ding-dong.

Recalling that 3-3 draw at Bournemouth, Holding (left) said: “We’ll take 1-0 this time – 100 per cent. It was a crazy confidence. Wenger said: “It’s normal. Morata fights, like Lacazette, but in England you play against teams who are organised and can physically cope with 90 minutes’ intensity.

“The defenders have become much quicker than before, they are all athletes now at the back.

“As a striker, you have to provoke. At the back, you respond. So that means the intensity and the problems a defender has always come from you.

“The defender can sometimes respond to the situation with experience, but the striker has always to be proactive. You need a lot of energy for that.

“What I like about Lacazette is his intelligence. His team attitude and the quality and the speed of understanding with the other players.

“What he has worked on is to cope with the intensity of the challenges.

“In France, you go down and it’s a free-kick. In England, you go down and it’s no free-kick.

“It is most difficult for the striker to get used to that – but Lacazette now resists better.” game last year, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Arsenal kept a clean sheet at Chelsea in midweek as they held Antonio Conte’s side to a draw at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final.

It was much needed on the back of the humiliating 4-2 FA

Energy

Cup defeat inflicted by Nottingham Forest last week.

Holding added: “Chelsea was an important game and it proved we don’t want to put out defensive displays like we did against Forest.

“To go to Stamford Bridge and get a clean sheet was massive for us.”