HARRY Arter insisted Eddie Howe’s squad had a collective responsibility to ensure their recent upturn in fortunes did not go to waste.

Arter revealed a no-blame culture existed at Vitality Stadium which had helped them through an indifferent spell since the turn of the year.

The midfielder played a key role in Cherries’ 3-2 victory over West Ham six days ago as they stopped the rot following eight Premier League games without a win.

It was one of the worst runs since Arter joined the club almost seven years ago and he is desperate for them to follow up against Swansea at Vitality Stadium tomorrow (5.30pm).

Arter, who was this week named in the Republic of Ireland squad, told the Daily Echo: “Over the course of a season, it is always tough to consistently keep putting in performances, especially at this level.

“Naturally, when results are not going your way, as a group, you are probably not as confident in the things you are doing.

“I felt that took its toll on everyone, both individually and collectively, and was one of the reasons we weren’t getting positive results.

“I feel we have performed really well since the second half at Everton and including the Manchester City game, which we lost. Hopefully, from this point on, nobody will look back.”

Asked how manager Howe had dealt with the winless run, Arter replied: “From our point of view, we didn’t see any change and he stayed very level headed.

“I am sure in-house and at home it probably wasn’t too nice for him. But I think he understood it wasn’t down to a lack of effort from any player.

“We were all in it together. There was no blame, no wanting him to take responsibility or him expecting us to take responsibility.

“We had to get out of the rut as a group and had to put in good performances. Thankfully, we have done that in our past three-and-a-half games.

“But it will all go to waste if we don’t maintain the same team spirit and mind-set because Swansea is another massive game.

“A new manager has come in and done really well for them. They had a tough result at Hull last week so I am sure they will want to put that right against us. We need to be fully prepared for whatever they come with.”

Arter believes Joshua King’s dramatic late winner against the Hammers can give Cherries a platform to build from.

“Hopefully, the third goal will kick-start us even more and we can start well and put in another good performance against Swansea,” added Arter.

“It has been a tough spell. We found ourselves looking over our shoulder and it’s not nice to be in that position.

“I always felt that if we could use the Manchester United display as our motivation then we would come away with something against West Ham.

“The togetherness again came shining through after we had conceded a late equaliser and we got what I felt we deserved.

“Both teams went for the win. We could easily have caved in and conceded another but, thankfully, we got the winning goal and held out quite comfortably.”