Wales international can finish Premier League top scorer, believes Spurs manager.
Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas believes in-form winger Gareth Bale can claim the Premier League golden boot this season.
The roving Welshman has notched 9 nine for club and country in his last seven games and taken his Premier League tally to fifteen for the season, five more than his total last term.
Bale, 23, remains three goals shy of Liverpool’s Luis Suarez and four behind last season’s top scorer, Robin van Persie, but Villas-Boas says Bale can catch the Manchester United forward.
“It is possible (that Bale can win the Golden Boot), yes,” Villas-Boas is quoted as saying by Sporting Life.
“That would be excellent. I am not sure (if he will). It is difficult. There are a lot of players competing. Van Persie, Suarez, and Jermain Defoe is still in the mix, but it is possible.”
Over the last seven games Bale has averaged 1.28 goals per match, significantly more than Van Persie (0.28), Suarez (0.71) and Swansea hitman Michu (0.42), with whom he is level on 15 goals.
Should Bale maintain this ratio, he will end the season with 29 goals, with Suarez on 26 and Van Persie even further adrift on 22.
Spurs will again be relying on Bale to produce in Sunday’s crucial North London derby with Arsenal at White Hart Lane.
The Lilywhites are currently four points ahead of their neighbours, who sit fifth, but Villas-Boas denied suggestions that his team are now the masters of North London.
“We are focused on trying to win because it’s important to establish our position in the Premier League,” the Tottenham boss said.
“Our objective is to gain the most amount of points as we can and against Arsenal, we have the chance to move further away from them and put ourselves in a more comfortable position.
“It’s an opportunity. The players are ready, prepared and we all know what we want to achieve this season.
“This is a very specific game, anything could happen really.
“I think it will be an open game from both sides, full of emotion, full of adrenaline, unpredictable. I think that’s the sort of game we expect and most of the fixtures have translated like that.”
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