Graeme Souness believes that Tottenham Hotspur will finish in the top four this season if they can keep Gareth Bale fit for the majority of the campaign.
Bale’s second debut for the club proved to be a match to forget for the Welshman as Jose Mourinho’s men capitulated in the final ten minutes against West Ham and threw away a three-goal lead.
However, the result has not completely dented the good feeling around the club, especially given the attacking quality that has been on show in the first few matches of the campaign.
Even in the first half against the Hammers, some of the football from Spurs was a joy to watch as the home side threatened to score every time they came forward.
Despite the way things ended for Tottenham in the London derby on Sunday, Souness believes that Bale’s return would have rejuvenated everyone at the club.
The former Liverpool manager told Sky Sports (as relayed by Football.London): “The rest of the players would’ve got a lift from him being there.
“The standards would’ve gone up. Everyone gets a lift, and I come back to it, the challenge for Spurs is keeping him as fit as possible and getting plenty of minutes out of him.
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“If they do that, if you can guarantee he’s gonna play 90 minutes of most games, then Spurs will finish top four. Everyone gets a lift when a great player comes to your football club.
“The rest of the players would’ve got a lift from him being there. The standards would’ve gone up.
“Everyone gets a lift, and I come back to it, the challenge for Spurs is keeping him as fit as possible and getting plenty of minutes out of him.”
Souness insisted that a frontline of Bale, Kane and Son can take the game away from the opposition at any time, even when the Lilywhites are not on top.
He added: “I don’t think you can afford to play against this Spurs team with such a high line, like Southampton did, and they never learned from it and got punished severely.
“I just think when you look at what they’ve got in that front three, they could be having a miserable day and still end up on the winning side.
“The team could be having a miserable day, but with those three in the game, they are fabulous, top players, who can take games without the rest of them being at their best.”
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