Mourinho explains Bale's 'surprise' absence from Everton game

Spurs played out a nine-goal thriller in the FA Cup fifth-round clash on Wednesday night, ending up on the wrong end of the scoreline.

Jose Mourinho was “a little bit surprised” by Gareth Bale’s latest injury which saw him miss Tottenham’s clash against Everton.

Bale was not included in the squad for the trip to Goodison Park, where Tottenham lost 5-4 after 120 minutes of action.

The Welsh forward returned to familiar surroundings at the start of the season in hope of revitalizing his career, but he has been unable to shrug off consistency and fitness issues.

Only six starts in total has been made by the Real Madrid loanee so far this term while he has been limited to just 230 minutes of Premier League action.

“Well I think it’s better for me to say,” said Mourinho when asked about Bale post-match. “So we played against West Bromwich on the Sunday and he didn’t play.

“On Monday I was a little bit surprised by him wanting to have a scan because he was not comfortable with some muscular area.

“So he didn’t train on Monday, and then on Tuesday he trained with the team, but I was informed that his desire would be to work with the sports science for a couple of days to strengthen that area.

“That’s the reason why he’s not here.”