THE chances are you don’t have any particular memories of what happened in the 25th minute of Cherries’ fixture against Arsenal.

And there’s no reason why you should. It was scarcely different to any other bog-standard minute of Premier League football.

But with Joshua King, the devil is in the detail.

Sometimes, it’s not all about smashing in goal after goal and providing countless assists for your team-mates.

Sometimes – in fact, a lot of the time – it’s about running, grafting and generally making a nuisance of yourself. In the grand scheme of things, that can be just as effective as a laser-guided shot or a mercurial awareness of team-mates’ positions.

Anyway, to digress. Some 25 minutes had been played. Charlie Daniels had launched the ball forward into space on the left. It was a pass to no one in particular and, seemingly, a lost cause.

But King, showing the electric heels to which the Cherries faithful have become accustomed, hared after it and won his race with Sokratis Papastathopoulous.

King might have had his back to goal but Sokratis, clearly panicked in the knowledge there was precious little else at home, hauled down his man and gave away a free-kick on the edge of the box, earning a yellow card in the process. Danger had been created from nothing.

A similar episode occurred midway through the second half. King charged towards the corner flag to retrieve a ball heading dead. Sokratis lumbered after the former Manchester United youngster, grabbed his shirt and, presumably, hoped for the best.

But this time King showed all of his considerable power, rolling his man and leaving him in the dust. The Norwegian picked out David Brooks and the winger gave keeper Bernd Leno a save to make at the near post.

In neither of these instances was a goal the end result. But it easily could have been.

King might have just returned from a month on the sidelines but he looked like a man who had 20 straight games under his belt. He was sharp, hungry, relentless.

That’s not even all of it. We could talk about how he closed down Leno in the opening minutes, forcing the German to rush his clearance and provide Simon Francis with an easy header on halfway. The resultant attack saw Brooks’s effort wrongly chalked off.

It was these kind of exertions – easily forgotten in the cut and thrust of Premier League football – which meant King deserved to get on the scoresheet with the sort of goal he might not have scored three years ago.

When Callum Wilson played inside to Brooks off the left wing, King was already peeling away from Rob Holding. And by the time Brooks had taken a few strides forward and provided a pass, King was in the perfect place.

The King of old would have taken an edgy touch or two and shifted the ball on to his right foot, either narrowing the angle or allowing a defender to get a block in. But the modern-day King hesitated not a jot.

Moving towards the ball with head down, he side-footed first time with ferocious power into the top corner of the net. That Leno managed to get the faintest of fingertips to it was an achievement in itself.

The changes in King’s game in recent seasons may in some areas be subtle but they are significant.

In this case, Arsenal’s victory meant the frontman’s efforts proved in vain but Eddie Howe – a manager keen on marginal gains – may feel that on another day, in another Premier League game, King’s improvement will be the difference between three points and none.

That might involve rifling a winner in second-half stoppage time but, equally, it might involve brushing aside a defender in a more unglamorous part of the pitch, or forcing a corner against the odds.

That’s the beauty of Joshua King. He’s not just about the goals.