DETERMINED Jack Stacey revealed how the intensity of work behind the scenes at Cherries had prepared him for the rigours of the Premier League.

The 23-year-old put in a solid display at right-back during Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Tottenham, having deputised for the unavailable Adam Smith.

Stacey stepped up after Smith had been taken ill on the morning of the contest in north London.

The £4million summer signing from Luton made his first top-flight appearance since October.

He told the Daily Echo: “Smudge had the illness in the morning, so I only found out on the morning but it’s nice for me to come back into the team.

“It’s what I work towards daily and weekly to get into the team and try to prove myself.

“When you can train with the quality of players we have it means going into matchdays, you are used to the intensity and the pace because of the way we train and the players we have.

“How the manager helps me individually, analyses games and training, that means when I am called upon I can come in and do a good job.

“I always just try to be ready. You never know what can happen in football.

“For me, my preparation is all the same whether I am on the bench or starting. I think that helped going into the game.”

Former Reading youngster Stacey has started five times at England’s elite level this season, featuring for 438 minutes in total.

He could be involved when Cherries make the trip to Crystal Palace on Tuesday (7.30pm), with Eddie Howe’s men looking to end a run of three straight defeats.

“I don’t think we are performing badly, it’s just spells in games that are killing us at the moment,” said the defender.

“When we do play well, we have shown we can match most teams in this division, so hopefully that means we can start picking up more results.”

Commenting on Stacey’s display against Spurs, boss Howe added: “I thought Jack did really well. He was in at short notice but was a great professional.

“He prepares very well every week and his game has improved. I think you could see that.

“He linked really well with Arnaut (Danjuma) in front of him. I was very pleased with his performance.

“He has seen most challenges, Saturday was a big one playing against a player of Son’s quality. I thought he did very well against him.

“He is using the ball very well now and beginning to be part of our intricate build-up play we like to use.”