• Howe suggested as potential successor to under-pressure Roberto Martínez • ‘I love it here and I’m committed to my job,’ says Bournemouth manager

Eddie Howe has insisted he remains fully committed to Bournemouth amid reports suggesting he could be the next Everton manager.

Roberto Martínez’s position at Goodison Park appears precarious after a season of underachievement, highlighted by supporter dissatisfaction in recent weeks. Fans have held banners calling for the Spaniard to go and backed Leighton Baines after the left-back was forced to apologise for saying Everton lacked “chemistry”.

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More protests are planned for Saturday’s home game against Bournemouth, when Howe will face the manager he has been linked with replacing. Asked if he would be interested in succeeding Martínez should the vacancy arise, Howe said: “I don’t think I have to reaffirm my commitment here every week, which seems to be a regular pattern. I love it here and I’m committed to the job. You’ve got to win games to stay in work and I’m fully committed to this job here.

“When you’re a manager yourself you have the full support and understanding of other managers. It’s a very difficult profession and you’re judged constantly every week on your results, on a lot of aspects of your job. It’s very tough at this level.”

Howe cut short his first spell as Bournemouth manager to join Burnley in January 2011 but left in October 2012 for personal reasons and returned to Bournemouth.

Martínez has said in the buildup to Saturday’s match his critics should judge him over three years, not three months. “I always encourage huge expectations and as a football club we have to drive to challenge for silverware and challenge for the top four,” he said. “When we’re not, scrutiny needs to be there.

“But it shouldn’t be scrutiny of the last two months or three months. It should be of three seasons, scrutiny about the team we’ve put together. The first season we had a record points tally, last season we were the last team in the British game to be knocked out of Europe, this season we made two semi-finals.”

Meanwhile, Howe is keen to protect Harry Arter’s long-term future as the midfielder continues to battle a persistent achilles problem. The Republic of Ireland international sustained the injury during the home win against Southampton at the beginning of March and has played only 45 minutes of football since.

“It’s been difficult for him because he’s the type of character that wants to play, as they all do, every week,” Howe said. “He missed pre-season, the first part and the tail end of the season and in between he did really well.

“We just hope that he’s fit beyond this season and of course this summer is a big one for him. We will wait and see what happens.”

Arter is unlikely to be involved at Goodison Park and Howe remains uncertain how long the full-back Adam Smith will continue to be sidelined by a groin injury.”

Max Gradel may be back in the Bournemouth squad. The forward missed the home defeat by Chelsea with the calf problem that forced him to be withdrawn during the previous game, against Liverpool, but he has improved this week and could return to contention.

Howe said: “Adam Smith has seen a specialist and we’re waiting for some definitive feedback on him. “Max is improving slightly, he took a knock but we hope he’ll be OK. Again, we’ll take our time on him but we’re hopeful he’ll get fit.”