Jose Mourinho has confirmed that he and Gareth Bale are deciding together how to best manage his minutes for Tottenham.
Struggling for game time initially following his return to the club on loan from Real Madrid in September, the 31-year-old has now started the last three matches for Spurs in the Premier League.
Hitting a double against Burnley just over a week ago, Bale hit another two on Sunday as the team registered an excellent 4-1 win over Crystal Palace.
The Wales international played a total of 70 minutes in the victory over the Eagles as Erik Lamela replaced him on the right wing for the closing stages.
Given both Mourinho and Bale are keen to ensure he doesn't over do it and pick up another injury, he revealed that his conversations with the player had fourth official Andre Marriner laughing on the sidelines throughout the second half.
"I want the momentum to keep going but we have to manage him," he explained in his pre-match press conference. "The communication is very good, I believe he trusts me.
"I trust his experience and judgement and his knowledge of his body and at the moment we're deciding together what to do
"The other day during the match I found Andre Marriner the fourth official laughing at us because he found my conversation with Gareth funny during the match.
"We were looking at each other saying, 'How many more minutes? Five minutes more or 10?' We were making the decisions together. Marriner was laughing at it.
"Gareth, the relationship is very good, he is playing well, of course I'd like him to be on the pitch for 90 minutes of every match but it's not possible."
