Jose Mourinho's surprising Gareth Bale prediction could be bad news for Brighton at Tottenham

Jose Mourinho believes Gareth Bale is “arriving” at peak physical condition and confirmed he will start Tottenham’s Europa League game with Royal Antwerp on Thursday.
Gareth Bale's game time has been managed by Jose Mourinho since his arrival at SpursGareth Bale's game time has been managed by Jose Mourinho since his arrival at Spurs
Gareth Bale's game time has been managed by Jose Mourinho since his arrival at Spurs

Bale has been building up his fitness following a knee injury which put the brakes on his second spell at the club following his loan return from Real Madrid.

The Wales international could also be in contention for a role against Brighton in the Premier League this Sunday.

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Bale played 60 minutes against LASK last week and looked rusty before being an unused substitute in the 1-0 win at Burnley on Monday.

Mourinho is ready to unleash him against the Belgians and expects him to “fly”.

“Bale is playing and we all have not just the feeling, but also the data that Bale is arriving,” he said.

“He is working very hard. He is being quite a great example for everybody. A big guy like him, travelled to Burnley, stayed on the bench for 90 minutes, didn’t play one minute.

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“His behaviour as a team guy is incredible. His behaviour as a Tottenham man is remarkable and he is coming.

“I can see just with my eyes but then the scientific data is also coming and he is working very, very well.

“He is improving, he is improving a lot and I think tomorrow we can see already Gareth at a good level and hopefully he can fly because he is working very hard. So he’s playing.”

Bale returned to Spurs after a seven-year stint of two halves at Real Madrid, with the second half, where he fell out of favour under Zinedine Zidane, earning him a reputation for being disliked.

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Mourinho has not seen anything of that back in north London, though.

He said: “I can only speak about him with us. And him with us: amazing. Of course, he arrived injured. Of course, when you are injured for such a long time, it takes a little bit of time. We are giving him that time.

“He is working very hard. I think he is very pleased with the level of organisation we have in the club. Probably, he is not used to it.

“But the way we work between coaching staff, medical staff, sports science area, we are providing all the best conditions for his evolution. He was on the bench, he played some minutes, he start a match, he was on the bench, he is starting tomorrow again and we are giving him time.

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“But again I repeat what I told before, he is in a better place than he was a couple of weeks ago. He is arriving.”

Mourinho confirmed that Eric Dier and Tanguy Ndombele have not travelled with the squad as they are rested ahead of Sunday’s match against Brighton.