Eddie Howe resembles the best and worst of Arsene Wenger.

The Bournemouth manager is one of the most well-liked in the Premier League due to his work in recent years.

The 40-year-old is a rare idealist in a league full of pragmatists, and has been committed to playing attacking football with one of the weakest squads in the division.

Unfortunately, the grim realities of Premier League football have demanded a degree of compromise from him that he’s struggling to achieve.

As Arsenal fans know all too well, gung-ho attacking football is fun until the leaky defence starts costing the club points.

Bournemouth’s overall record in the Premier League is good considering their resources.

Since their promotion in 2015, they’ve accumulated 109 points. That’s more than the likes of West Brom, Crystal Palace, Swansea and Burnley.

Tellingly, they’ve conceded more goals than all of those sides.

Howe’s team have always shipped a high number of goals.

They conceded 67 in their first season, and then the same amount again the following campaign.

The difference was the 10 extra goals they managed to score, which saw them jump from 16th to 9th.

This season, they’ve conceded 34 goals, which is by no means the worst record in the division.

It’s actually their goalscoring that is letting them down this season.

Much like Wenger currently, Howe is struggling to get his attack to click consistently throughout the campaign.

Both clubs brought new strikers in the summer (Alexandre Lacazette for Arsenal, Jermain Defoe for Bournemouth) yet both are still searching for form.

The search for balance and consistency continue to haunt both managers.

Howe was once considered as an unlikely yet possible successor to Wenger due to his similar philosophy.

At the rate he’s going, that is fast becoming a pipe dream.