Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Ryan Mason has admitted that Gareth Bale may not play against Aston Villa on Wednesday evening.
The Welshman has had plenty of fitness problems throughout the season, and while he’s been looking sharper in recent months, it seems as though the amount of football he’s playing is taking its toll on his body.
Mason says that he isn’t sure on Bale’s current fitness level, but he says that any player that isn’t 100 per cent won’t be playing for his team due to the amount of depth he has in his squad.
“Ben’s still out. Serge has returned to training, but there are a couple of question marks from the game at the weekend as well, so we’ll assess those and see how they’re feeling,” Mason said.
“Yeah, I’m not sure. Gareth was probably the best I’ve seen him all season at the weekend, he was sharp, he was running at players and he’s got that confidence back from playing in repetitive games in the Premier League and he feels confident in his body, but he also knows his body. He’s a question mark for tomorrow, we don’t know if he’s going to be ready. It’s up to the player, he’s experienced enough, we’ll see. Like it was with Serge, if a player doesn’t feel 100%, then I don’t feel confident in playing them. We have enough players that are ready and competing, so if we feel it’s not right, these players won’t play.”
It doesn’t sound as though Bale is likely to play against Aston Villa.
At this point of the season, Mason isn’t willing to select anyone who isn’t 100 per cent, and to be fair, he’s right to do that.
Spurs don’t need to pick any unfit players at this point, especially in wide areas where the likes of Lucas Moura, Steven Bergwijn and Erik Lamela can easily slot in.
Of course, Bale could recover quickly before the game, but it sounds as though he may not be fit in time to play in this one.
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