Gareth Bale is performing at his best and Ryan Mason is delighted to have the Real Madrid loan star on top form for Tottenham s run-in.
Spurs face Leeds United at Elland Road on Saturday with designs on narrowing the five-point gap to fourth-placed Chelsea in pursuit of Champions League football.
Consecutive Premier League wins over Southampton and Sheffield United have aided their cause, with Bale scoring four goals across those two games, including a hat-trick against the Blades.
That treble put Bale top of the pile in terms of his goals-per-minute ratio in the top flight, with his nine goals coming at an average of one every 81 minutes.
It marks an upturn in fortunes amid a loan spell in which the Welshman has often underwhelmed, but there is talk of Bale staying for next season if that is the wish of all parties.
81 After his hat-trick against Sheffield United on Sunday, Gareth Bale is averaging a better minutes-per-goal ratio than any other player in this season s Premier League, scoring 9 times in just 727 minutes played. Hotshot.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Reflecting on the forward s performances on and off the pitch during his brief spell at the helm, interim boss Mason said: I can only go off the back of the last two weeks, from what I ve seen from Gareth, I experienced playing with him as well, a top professional with immense quality, he s produced on the football pitch as well, he s happy and I m happy.
We have to be performing at our best, at the moment he s performing at his best.
I pick the team from training performances, certain individuals who will help that team within that match. For the game against Southampton, we needed Gareth, someone we could rely on to produce that moment.
We have so many options at that high end of the pitch, there are difficult decisions to make. Gareth has proved in the last couple of weeks that he s got that quality in the final third.
Asked about Bale s future, Mason added: Those questions and answers are not for me to say, Gareth and his parent club are having conversations.
It s not right to focus on the next season, we have to focus on our next game, it s a massive match.
When the season is done, those conversation will happen.
If Bale should add one more to his tally, it would represent the longest gap between 10-goal seasons in the competition s history (8), overtaking Paul Scholes and Nwankwo Kanu who each went seven campaigns between netting double figures.
Spurs have history on their side heading to Yorkshire, having won the last three in a row against Leeds in a six-game unbeaten run.
However, Leeds are seeking to remain unbeaten at home in the Premier League against each of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Spurs in a season since West Ham in 2015-16, and only the third newly promoted team to do so, after Ipswich Town in 2000-01 and Birmingham City in 2009-10.
The tactical battle will be plotted by two managers with wildly varying levels of experience, as Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa is 35 years and 327 days older than Mason, representing the second biggest gap between two opposing coaches meeting in the competition, after Bobby Robson and Chris Coleman (37 years, 112 days).
