During the latest edition of The Glenn Hoddle Footy Show, ex-Tottenham Hotspur player and manager Glenn Hoddle spent some time looking ahead to Spurs’ next Premier League game versus Chelsea on Sunday.
Nine games into the 2020/21 campaign, Spurs and Chelsea currently occupy two of the top three positions on the Premier League table, with the Lilywhites in first place on 20 points and the Blues sitting in third place trailing Tottenham by just two points. So, while it’s still early days in the season, perhaps Sunday’s meeting between Spurs and Chelsea represents an opportunity for one of these would-be title challengers to gain some ground on a potentially important rival.
While talking about this upcoming Premier League clash on his podcast, Hoddle shared that he thinks Spurs loanee Gareth Bale could play an important role for Jose Mourinho’s side in that game, saying:
“I’ve got a sneaky feeling that Gareth Bale might have a big say in that game, I think he might be holding him up his sleeve.
“You could just see him turning it on in a game like that and I think it’ll be interesting to see if Jose plays him on Thursday in the Europa [League] game – whether he holds him back a little bit, I would imagine he’d start him and maybe take him off after 65/70 minutes. It wouldn’t surprise me if he [has] got him earmarked for Chelsea.”
Do you think Bale will play a big role for Spurs vs Chelsea?
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TIF Thoughts on what Hoddle had to say about Bale…
Since re-joining the north London club on a season-long loan in September, Bale has made six appearances for the Lilywhites in all competitions, with the Wales international making just one Premier League start for Tottenham so far this term.
He didn’t feature in Spurs’ Premier League win over Manchester City this past weekend and you could argue that with City finishing in one of the Premier League’s top two places for each of the last three seasons, they represent a potential title rival for Tottenham like Chelsea might, so if Bale was not a member of the squad for that match then could that mean that he isn’t viewed as a key member of Mourinho’s starting XI at present?
If that is the case, then maybe it is unlikely that the £22.5m-rated man will play as big of a role as Hoddle seems to think he will versus third-placed Chelsea on Sunday.
However, Bale has featured in all of Spurs’ Europa League group stage games so far this term and they host Ludogorets Razgrad in that competition on Thursday before they travel to Stamford Bridge, so if Bale continues his run of playing in the Europa League, maybe he can deliver a performance on Thursday that earns him a place in Mourinho’s plans for Sunday.