Premier League Game of the Week: Tottenham 4-0 Sheffield United

Gareth Bale was the hero of the weekend for Tottenham as the Welshman scored a superb hat-trick as Tottenham thumped bottom side Sheffield United 4-0.

Bale was the talk of the game of course and after getting the nod to start by interim manager Ryan Mason he grabbed that chance and did all of his talking on the pitch. Too often this season Bale was used as a scapegoat for some of Tottenham’s poor performances but if he goes back to Real Madrid this summer it is almost certain that he will leave the Premier League being able to look at himself in the mirror.

There’s been a lot of criticism thrown at Bale since his loan back move to Tottenham but let’s remind ourselves that with the three goals at the weekend he has scored 9 times in the Premier League and 14 times in all competitions not a bad record when you read some of the accusations thrown at the 31 year old.

The goals did not start until the 35th minute as the Blades had frustrated the home side up until then. Serge Aurier assisted in the first goal with a fine lobbed pass which caught out Sheffield United’s defence and the ball found a charging Bale who neatly lobbed the goalkeeper. Tottenham deserved their goal and that had been their 5th shot on target for the half against the Blades who had had zero. The half ended 1-0.

Heung-Min Son thought that he had made it 2-0 a few minutes into the second half but his effort was ruled out for offside. However just pass the hour mark Tottenham had doubled the lead when Son broke clear and squared the ball to Bale who only had the keeper to beat, still from 20 yards out Bale composed himself at speed and smashed the ball into the top right corner.

Bale completed his hat-trick seven minutes later with a shot from the edge of the area. Pumped full of confidence Bale was more than happy to take his chances and everything was turning into gold for the midfielder.

Son who had worked so hard the entire game got the goal of the game to make it 4-0 soon after. He turned wickedly beating his defender and smashed the ball home, a fine goal that will get better and better with each viewing.

The win for Tottenham puts them on 56 points and they are 5 points behind 4th placed Chelsea. The club have a small chance of a top four finish and at least with this victory have kept that dream alive.

As for interim coach Ryan Mason that’s 2 league wins from two and 6 goals scored and 1 conceded not such a bad start for him.

Tottenham will try to make it 3 wins in a row in the league when they play Leeds United away from home this weekend.

Sheffield United are relegated already and they will play Crystal Palace at home next. The Blades are 9 points behind 19th placed West Bromwich Albion and look set to finish last in the Premier League for this season.

Challenge the best EPL Fantasy Managers at www.fantasy-premier.com