Harry Arter’s definitely done that before.
It’s a tactic seen regularly on five-a-side pitches up and down Britain but you don’t see it happen all that often in the Premier League.
Arter showed every bit of cunning in his arsenal on Saturday, when Bournemouth hosted Watford at the Vitality Stadium.
The visitors eventually claimed a 2-0 victory but, with the score finely poised at 0-0, Arter broke out one of the oldest tricks in the book as he shouted for the Hornets’ Nathaniel Chalobah to leave it when the ball was crossed into his path.
The pass had the perfect pace and precision for Chalobah to take a first time shot at goal but, believing that he’d heard a teammate shout for the ball to be left for him, Chalobah dummied and allowed the Cherries midfielder to latch on to the ball and clear the danger.
The Watford man was clearly unhappy after being fooled and he let Arter know all about it.
Now Premier League rules don’t allow us to show you the footage of the incident but the below screenshots make it very clear how Arter won the battle of wits.
It did not go unnoticed by the game’s commentators and it also came up on Match of the Day on Saturday night, with both Gary Lineker and Jermaine Jenas suggesting that a foul could have been awarded against Arter for unsporting behaviour.
Supporters didn’t know what to make of it.
Just catching up with the Bournemouth/Watford game? Did Chalobah leave it cause Arter told him to? That's great, I've done that in the past.
— Scott Johnston (@Thefootyblognet) August 20, 2017
Is it wrong that I like what Harry Arter did to Chalobah 😂
— Mark Gregory (@markgregory_) August 20, 2017
Arter shouting "LEAVE IT" to Chalobah is poor. I haven't forgot @SimonRayHarvey doing it to me in a 7 a side game like 3 years ago. Livid!
— Thomas J (@TJ_Hewitt) August 19, 2017
Shithousery of the highest order from Harry Arter on Chalobah. Outstanding.
— Kevin McCarthy (@Carthy123) August 19, 2017
That was absolutely world class shithousing from Harry Arter. Done Chalobah good and proper. Almost playground stuff that #BOUWAT #MOTD
— Sam Heaton (@Sam_f_Heaton) August 19, 2017
Very very poor gamesmanship if Harry Arter did shout "leave it" when @chalobah was about to pull trigger. Immoral #afcb #watfordfc
— MIKE WALTERS (@MikeWaltersMGM) August 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/BigJimmy_V/status/899038007692492800
Naughty false call from Arter there. Ungentlemanly conduct. Can see why Chalobah was so annoyed.
— Mike McCarthy (@mikemccarthy) August 19, 2017
Arter appears to have cheated by calling for the ball as Chalobah wound up to hit it. #WatfordFC
— Diggles (@SemtexSports) August 19, 2017
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