PRINCE OF WOWS

Another Welsh triumph as Bale scores twice.. and Jose declares: He’s better than ever

Tottenham 4 Burnley

JOSE MOURINHO believes he now has Gareth Bale in the sort of shape to get into any team in the world.

The Welsh serial thriller hit two and made another for Harry Kane in Tottenham’s demolition of Burnley. Lucas Moura (with Bale, below) netted the other.

Mourinho (inset) insists Bale will play a significant role in the final few months of the season.

He said: “There is not one single manager in the world who

MIKEL ARTETA could not hide his delight as Arsenal floored Leicester with a flurry of rocket fire either side of half-time.

Things did not look good for a Gunners side floundering in mid-table, with only one win in their last five Premier League matches, when they fell behind after just six minutes.

But they hit back with venom, shattering the Foxes who had gone into the game with a single defeat in their last 12 League outings.

The hosts had hit them hard – and quick – with a superbly taken Youri Tielemans goal.

Granit Xhaka had been dispossessed far too easily but, with the ball still on the halfway line, it should not have been a matter of immediate concern.

But Tielemans raced away with it, leaving

Xhaka in his slipstream and, undeterred by the ever-tightening angle, swept the ball across Bernd

Leno and just inside the far post.

Midway through the half, Harvey

Barnes sent in a stinger from 30 yards out, which Leno beat away and the Gunners – who had Bukayo Saka and Pierreemerick Aubameyang (above) on the bench – were looking vulnerable.

But they completely turned the game on its head with five minutes left in the first half.

They drew level in the

39th minute when exposing Leicester from a free-kick on the edge of the box, after Luke Thomas was finally booked for taking Pepe out for a third time.

Willian curled the ball over, David Luiz cut away from his markers and then turned back to power home with his head.

The home side were still dusting themselves off when they fell foul of a VAR check after Arsenal players, their bench and entourage screamed for a penalty when Pepe’s shot struck Wilfred Ndidi’s arm. Referee Paul Tierney went to the monitor and took only the briefest look before pointing to the spot. Alexandre Lacazette made no mistake, sending Kasper Schmeichel the wrong way for his 11th goal of the season. If that was hard to swallow for Brendan Rodgers (inset) and his men, there was worse to come within minutes of the restart, when Barnes was taken off on a stretcher and they slipped further behind.

England hopeful Barnes fell to the ground after stretching for a ball four minutes into the second half and clearly could take no further part.

Almost immediately, Arsenal struck again when Pepe went on a powerful run, laid the ball off and carved his way into the box.

And he was ideally placed to tap home as Willian nipped the ball past Schmeichel and across to the near post (players and subs congratulate Pepe, below).

Even worse for Leicester, they lost Jonny Evans, who went off injured in the 69th minute.

GIANT LEAP Gareth Bale runs to celebrate his goal as Spurs crushed sad Burnley yesterday