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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport

Gareth Bale to start for Tottenham in Thursday's Europa League clash against Antwerp

Gareth Bale is set to start Tottenham's Europa League match against Royal Antwerp on Thursday.

Bale made his first start since the returning to the club in last Thursday's 3-0 win over LASK in the competition but was an unused substitute at Burnley on Monday.

Jose Mourinho is set to ring the changes in Belgium, with Carlos Vinicius, Dele Alli, Harry Winks and Serge Aurier among the players who could come in.

Bale is still working his way to full fitness after joining on a season-long loan from Real Madrid in the summer and Mourinho assistant, Joao Sacramento, revealed he would start in Belgium.

“I can tell you that we will make some changes but like in every previous match, the changes don’t mean that the team is weak,” Sacramento told the club's official website. “We believe that with the squad that we have, even with rotation, the team will keep the level and the quality of play.

“Tomorrow, Gareth Bale will start. Gareth is improving a lot – in terms of fitness level, his condition is much, much better, he’s feeling better every day and with the interaction that we have with him, he’s feeling very positive and we believe that soon he will be at his top level again.”

Spurs will be without Japhet Tanganga, who remains sidelined with a thigh problem, while Paulo Gazzaniga, Gedson Fernandes, Joe Rodon and Danny Rose are ineligible in the Europa League.

Mourinho can name 12 substitutes in the Europa League and youngsters Jack Clarke, Dennis Cirkin and Harvey White have all travelled.

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