Bournemouth targeted Chelsea midfielder Jorginho in their 4-0 thrashing of Maurizio Sarri's team, according to goalscoring hero Josh King.
A second-half brace from King, along with goals from the excellent David Brooks and Charlie Daniels put a lacklustre Chelsea to the sword at the Vitality Stadium.
The defeat is likely to bring fresh questions over the compatibility of Sarri's defined playing style with the players at his disposal and it proved another sorry outing for flagship signing Jorginho.
Speaking after the match, King confirmed using Brooks to nullify Chelsea's deep-lying playmaker proved key to Bournemouth's success.
"We knew we had to get Jorginho out of the game," he said. "Brooksy did a great job on him and then Junior [Stanislas] when [Brooks] went off.
"In the first 20 minutes of the game we didn't really get that right. The manager reminded us of that when someone went down injured after 20 minutes.
"I don't think he had that many touches and I don't think he enjoyed playing today. A great game plan by the manager and I think we executed it well."
Howe joined King in reserving praise for Brooks, whose wonderful display was cut short by injury in the 68th minute.
"It was huge," he said of the Wales international shutting down Jorginho.
"We had to make a tactical adjustment when the game wasn't going the way we wanted.
"David did a brilliant job, beyond his years with how diligent he was defensively. And then he showed his class at the other end."
