The Bournemouth midfielder Harry Arter has thanked Pep Guardiola for the “unbelievable touch” of wishing him luck with the birth of his child, which is due later this week.
In December 2015, before Guardiola had accepted a job in English football, Arter and his partner Rachel’s daughter Renee was delivered stillborn.
The Manchester City manager was seen talking to Arter on the pitch after the visitors’ 2-0 win at the Vitality Stadium on Monday, and, asked about the incident, Arter told the Daily Echo: “He offered his best wishes for me and my partner this week, which was an unbelievable touch.
“He is someone I have a massive amount of respect for. I watched his Barcelona teams, and look at his Manchester City side.
“For me, he is the best manager in the world. I don’t think there’s anybody close to him and what he has achieved. For him to offer that to me, I respected it and accepted it with a smile on my face.”
Guardiola was asked at his post-match press conference about what he had told the midfielder, and said: “He will be a father soon so I said big congratulations to him and his partner because I know what happened in the past, and, hopefully, the baby will be well.”
Arter was part of a midfield overrun and outclassed as City excelled to move up to second in the Premier League table, but Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was nonetheless pleased with how his side performed.
“We needed a positive response to the Everton game, and we got that,” he said. “The attitude and motivation to the team was very good. Looking to the future, those are important characteristics to the team. We need to get our bounce back, and that will only come from a win, but that was a positive step forward.
“I thought City were very good, a very controlled performance as the away team. Our lads gave everything they could, worked incredibly hard, and I can’t ask for anything more. I just felt they were better than us.”
Bournemouth’s fitness problems continued, as both Jack Wilshere and Simon Francis were forced off with injuries. “Jack is just feeling his ankle,” said Howe. “I don’t think there’s a major injury there. He just felt he couldn’t move as freely as he wanted to and had a pain in his ankle, so we took him off. Simon is feeling his hamstring again. Any injuries we get to established first-team players are going to be difficult to manage.”
