Here are the Tottenham evening headlines for Monday March 1, 2021.
Bale is Back
Tottenham put in a terrific performance on Sunday afternoon to defeat Burnley 4-0 with Gareth Bale the star of the show and roundly praised for returning to the form that saw him become the world's most expensive football player.
Bale netted twice, the second a beautiful left-footed effort, provided the assist for Harry Kane's goal, and put in an all-round excellent performance in just his third Premier League start of the season.
There was one moment in the first-half that saw Bale roll back the years.
Faced up against Charlie Taylor, Bale knocked the ball one side of the Burnley man before sprinting down the touchline and collecting the ball before Taylor had even had time to turn.
It was reminiscent of his Copa Del Rey final goal for Real Madrid against Barcelona in 2014 and proff his confidence as well as form is well and truly back.
Four into one does not go
The return of Bale to his scintillating best is good news for Tottenham Hotspurs and Jose Mourinho, however, for four Spurs players, it makes their chances of getting into the side that much harder.
With Bale proving himself undroppable alongside first-choice starters Harry Kane and Son Heung-min that only leaves one spot in attacking midfield left available if Mourinho continues with his 4-2-3-1 formation.
Lucas Moura is the man in possession of the shirt and put in a fine performance himself against Burnley.
The Brazilian scored Tottenham's third goal of the afternoon and netted the weekend before in the 2-1 defeat to West Ham. but there are three other men vying for his shirt in the starting XI
Spurs given derby boost by UEFA
Currently, Tottenham and Arsenal are both due to be playing the first-legs of their round of 16 Europa League clashes away from home on March 11 with the home legs taking place the following week.
The north London derby is sandwiched between these two legs and the order of Spurs' tie could be rescheduled according to a report in the Evening Standard, to avoid both teams having a home match on the same evening.
If that is the case Arsenal as FA Cup winners are likely to be given the advantage of having their home leg second while Mourinho's men will lose that advantage.
One positive from this for Tottenham is that in the lead up to the derby they will no longer face a trip to Croatia but will instead be hosting Dinamo Zagreb at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Arsenal, meanwhile, will be completing a 3,000 mile round trip to Greece once more to take on Olympiakos, just 68 hours before hosting Spurs.
