Dyer blown away by Bale progression

Swansea winger Nathan Dyer has praised the progression Gareth Bale has made since their days together at Southampton.

The pair trained together as youngsters at the Saints’ satellite academy centre in Bath and has been impressed with how Bale has become a world class player.

Bale will face his former colleague at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday and will be looking to get back to winning ways after suffering back-to-back league defeats

Dyer said: “Tottenham are a great side, they have plenty of power and pace and my good friend plays for them.

“There is not much that has not been said about him already, and we will have to do our homework and come out fighting.

“I know Gareth from Southampton’s satellite centre in Bath where we trained together all the way through.

“The technique he has now is the same as then, but the pace and the power he now has has blown me away. He didn’t used to be as fast as that.

“We can’t focus everything on stopping him but we will have to try and stop him somehow.”against Liverpool and Fulham.

He added: “We have to play our own game, we have shown previously against the big teams that at our best we can match them. It’s not about stopping them, it’s about playing our own game.”