HARRY Arter lamented Cherries' failure to implement manager Eddie Howe's game plan against Chelsea, but admitted the puzzle posed by Antonio Conte's team was just "too difficult" for his team to solve.

Adam Smith's unfortunate own goal and a sublime effort from Eden Hazard left Cherries staring at a two-goal deficit after 20 minutes of Saturday's game.

Joshua King's thumping strike reduced the arrears shortly before half-time but Marcos Alonso's beautifully executed 68th-minute free-kick sealed victory for Antonio Conte's team.

Arter told the Daily Echo: "It was a very tough game, mentally and physically it was really demanding.

"There were a few things we were not overly happy with, though. The manager gave us a game plan and, sometimes, it might have looked as if we were not implementing it.

"We probably didn’t execute it exactly as he wanted us to, albeit it was very tough out there and it wasn’t through a lack of effort.

"It has been a hard week, with three extremely demanding games, so maybe a bit of fatigue set in.

"Everyone has to be completely at it or you won't beat a side like that – and unfortunately we weren’t."

Arter was clearly intent on ruffling a few Chelsea feathers early in the piece. While he made his presence felt in a feisty engine-room battle, though, the Ireland international believed Cherries waited too long before properly getting stuck into their title-chasing opponents.

"It wasn’t an instruction from the manager," continued Arter. "That is just the way I have developed my game and the way I try to play.

"I think you have to be aggressive against teams like Chelsea and that was probably one thing I felt we could have done a bit more across the pitch.

"At 2-0 down everybody started to be a tad more aggressive and we got our reward for that, so we were disappointed to lose the game in the fashion we did."

Arter had the unenviable task of going into combat with N'Golo Kante, the London club's acclaimed midfield star. But he acknowledged that the former Leicester City running machine represented just one of a number of exceptional cogs in the Chelsea juggernaut.

"Kante is an unbelievable player and he probably doesn’t get enough credit for how good he is on the ball," said Arter. "He is very tough to play against.

"But they have top quality in every position. In a lot of teams you can identify one player they rely on, then devise a game plan to stop them playing.

"Chelsea have so many good individuals it comes to a point where that is almost impossible.

"They have the quality to go out wide or to play infield, so they are a very difficult team to play against. And it proved too difficult for us this time."

Arter received his ninth booking this term for a tackle on Diego Costa. But with the Premier League's yellow card amnesty having kicked in at the weekend he will avoid any suspension through the totting up process.

He said: "I am pleased with how I have handled that. I received a red card earlier in the season (at West Ham in the second match of the campaign) but I have played a lot of games now without being suspended again."