Newcastle United made it eight defeats in 11 Premier League matches as they were beaten 2-1 by AFC Bournemouth at St James’ Park.

William Osula’s second half strike was cancelled out by goals in either half from Marcus Tavernier and Adrien Truffert as Newcastle suffered a fifth home defeat in six Premier League games.

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It comes after head coach Eddie Howe doubled down on his determination and comittment to deliver for Newcastle.

“In terms of my fire, my fire is burning very, very strongly,” Howe said. “There’s no guarantee obviously, from my side, what’s going to happen in the future because, as I’ve said, the forces that move in football clubs move quickly. But my fire is there. There’s loads of wood stacked up and I’m ready to put it on it.”

Eddie Howe left speechless – for seven seconds

But when the same question was asked of his players and their desire to deliver for the club, Howe paused for longer than he ever has during a Newcastle press conference, timed at over seven seconds in total before finaly answering.

He said: “Yeah, I mean, I’m hesitating because I’m speaking on behalf of other people, and that’s very difficult to do.

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“I believe they do. As I say, from what I see in the training ground, I don’t see any sense of poor attitude or poor commitment to their work.

“I see a group of players that are always giving their all. I don’t see an issue in that. And if I did, I would say so, or I would say behind the scenes and make the following adjustments.

“So obviously my team selection in part represents that as well. I pick who I feel trains well. I pick who I feel deserves to play based on what I see.So, of course, that represents a sort of statement, if you like. But that’s always been the case.

“Of course, we all need to give more. The players need to give more. I need to give more to turn the results around.”

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Next up for Newcastle is a trip to Premier League leaders Arsenal, a ground they have not won at in the league since 2010.