EDDIE Howe hailed the display of stand-in left-back Jack Simpson against Arsenal, describing him as a "lovely footballer".

With Diego Rico suspended and both Charlie Daniels and Lloyd Kelly still ruled out through injury, centre-half Simpson was drafted in for the Boxing Day visit of the Gunners in a new-look back four alongside Jack Stacey, Steve Cook and Chris Mepham.

And the 22-year-old produced an assured display in his first Premier League start since May, up against the likes of Reiss Nelson, Mesut Ozil and Nicolas Pepe in the 1-1 draw.

Asked what he made of Simpson's performance, Howe told the Daily Echo: "He gave everything. I think physically he was totally committed to the game.

"It’s a new position and I think having done it myself, having played centre-half and playing full-back, the energy you extend playing full-back is a lot more than playing in the middle of the pitch.

"So he would’ve felt that yesterday. But I thought he did really well.

"He used the ball really well. He’s a lovely footballer.

"He’s obviously a really good size so he adds to us aerially and physically and he did really well, I was really pleased with him."

And Simpson admits playing left-back was a role he has not been particularly used to.

He said: "Maybe I played there when I was 11 or 12. I think I played left-wing-back against Southampton last year, but lasted about 20 minutes before I went back to centre-half.

"But I enjoyed it. It's good to be out there I guess playing more positions than one, it gives you more opportunities."

He added: "I think it's a good thing to be versatile, it gives you more opportunities to get into the team and if you can play in more than one position, it's only going to help the team and the squad, especially with the run of games we've got now.

"I've played left-sided centre-half so I've seen what the left-backs do. I do a lot of work with them anyway so I think it's important when you're training to know more than one position, just so you can help them out if you need to, which probably helped yesterday."

Asked if he feels he did enough to keep his spot for the clash with Brighton tomorrow, Simpson said: "That's up to the gaffer. I felt I did well but we all know how well Diego's been (playing) in the run of games he's played since Chaz has been injured. At the end of the day it's up to the gaffer, we'll see what he does."