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Display against Burnley shows Gareth Bale still has it

Display against Burnley shows Gareth Bale still has it
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The football career of Wales superstar Gareth Bale has taken a nosedive in recent years. His struggles towards the backend of his time at Real Madrid have been well-documented.

A loan switch to Tottenham last summer was designed to revive the 31-year-old’s flagging fortunes.

Unfortunately, Bale has spent much of his time in north London as an expensive benchwarmer. Like many others, Spurs head coach Jose Mourinho seemed to have doubts over Bale’s fitness, the Portuguese boss never seemed to question his quality though.

When the Welsh winger has played he has had involvements in seven goals. On Sunday, he produced undoubtably the best performance of his second stint in north London, as he scored twice and produced an assist in a 4-0 home win over Burnley.

The display was a throw back to when Bale used to light up White Hart Lane with his electric pace and quality on the ball. We haven’t seen much of that from the winger in the last few years.

The most we have seen in the last few seasons has been flashes of his immense ability, due to injuries, fitness and a seemingly alleged doubts over his commitment to football, or more specifically to Real Madrid.

There is no doubt that Gareth Bale is not the player he was in his mid-twenties, which is virtual the same for most players. Some players seem to be ageless like Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Cristiano Ronaldo. However, due to his past injury problems and style of play, Bale’s game was always likely to deteriorate in his thirties.

The performance against Burnley hinted that he can still produce quality performances at the highest level though, even if the Clarets were generous in their defensive efforts.

The game may just relight Bale’s fire and he could enjoy the last years of his career.

Premier League
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Manchester City 73 32 22 7 3 44
2
Arsenal 71 32 22 5 5 49
3
Liverpool 71 32 21 8 3 41
4
Aston Villa 63 33 19 6 8 19
5
Tottenham 60 32 18 6 8 16
6
Newcastle United 50 32 15 5 12 17
7
Manchester United 50 32 15 5 12 -1
8
West Ham 48 33 13 9 11 -6
9
Chelsea 47 31 13 8 10 9
10
Brighton 44 32 11 11 10 2
11
Wolverhampton 43 32 12 7 13 -5
12
Fulham 42 33 12 6 15 -2
13
Bournemouth 42 32 11 9 12 -10
14
Crystal Palace 33 32 8 9 15 -17
15
Brentford 32 33 8 8 17 -11
16
Everton 27 32 9 8 15 -16
17
Nottingham Forest 26 33 7 9 17 -16
18
Luton Town 25 33 6 7 20 -24
19
Burnley 20 33 4 8 21 -35
20
Sheffield United 16 32 3 7 22 -54

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