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Harry Redknapp has revealed Gareth Bale is back working with Tottenham’s medical staff and “has a chance” of featuring in Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid.

Bale was forced to pull out of Wales’ Euro 2012 qualifier against England due to a hamstring problem, which was diagnosed as a grade one strain. Immediately the left-sided flyer was rated a major doubt for the trip to Madrid, but Redknapp is not ready to rule out his star man just yet, hinting he may only play Bale in one of the two forthcoming fixtures against Wigan and Madrid.

“He’s back here, he’s not trained with us this morning but he’s working with the fitness coaches, and he looks OK,” Redknapp told Sky Sports News. “Whether he’s ready to play two games is doubtful. We’ll decide on Friday which way we go with it. We really want to finish top four again to get Champions League football, so we have to give it a real good go at Wigan.

“We’d love to have him fit, but if he’s not fit we won’t play him. We hope Gareth’s fit but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Redknapp also had news on Aaron Lennon, the man who created the crucial goal in their two-legged tie with AC Milan, after the winger pulled out of England’s friendly with Ghana.

“Aaron’s OK, he trained this morning and felt OK. His hamstring was tight so we didn’t risk him with England, but he felt OK today.”

Redknapp has a defensive crisis heading into the weekend clash with Wigan, with four of his central defenders out through injury.

“We started with six or seven central defenders, but we lost Ledley King, who looks like he’ll have an operation at the end of the season. Jonathan Woodgate was making progress but he got a calf injury against Barnet. He’s an absolute top class centre half, one of the best in Europe, but because he keeps making comebacks he keeps getting niggling injuries.

“Younes Kaboul is out with a calf strain, and William Gallas has had a scan today on his knee, and he’s struggling a bit for the weekend as well. So we’re left with Michael Dawson and Sebastien Bassong.”

Spurs play Wigan just 72 hours before they face Real and Redknapp is unhappy at the busy schedule facing his side.

“We only had two senior players training last week. All the others came back this morning,” Redknapp added. “Five of them played 90 minutes on Tuesday night, Gallas went for a scan this morning and one or two of them have little niggles.

“You can’t come out here this morning and start thinking about how we are going to beat Real Madrid because we have to play Wigan on Saturday. It’s farcical. You play Saturday, you recover on Sunday. You’re not going to have your XI ready on Sunday because you are going to have aches and pains and knocks.

“Then you travel to Madrid early Monday morning and you are not going to want to walk on to the pitch at the Bernabeu and start working on corners and set plays and shape because everyone will be looking at you. It’s going to be very difficult to prepare for Real Madrid because Wigan are in the way.”

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Mario Balotelli insists he is enjoying his time at Manchester City and believes the club can win the Premier League title this season.

Balotelli, 20, joined City from Inter in the summer, but there have been regular reports that he has struggled to adapt to England and he has come under fire for his continued lack of discipline.

He has been persistently linked with AC Milan and this week the club’s vice-president, Adriano Galliani, refused to rule out a move for the forward. “There is time,” Galliani said. “We’ll see in the future.”

Balotelli, though, says he is enjoying his time at Eastlands and that he is working to repay Roberto Mancini for the faith he has shown in him.

“I hope the fans know that I like it here and I am really proud to write the history of this club,” he told Goal.com. “It is a great experience.

“All the people at Manchester City are fantastic and you can see the club growing every day. I try every day to repay the trust the manager and the club showed in me by signing me.

“It is quite different from Italian football but I like it. The stadiums in the Premier League are fantastic and the way the supporters experience the game is extraordinary.”

City are currently fourth in the Premier League, ten points behind leaders Manchester United with eight games remaining, but Balotelli insists they are capable of winning the title.

Asked about his ambitions for the current season, he said: “Win win win. [Qualifying for] the Champions League next season. Winning the Premier League title. We want, and we can win, the title.”

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Fabio Capello is hoping his emerging England team can be spoken of in the same deferential tones as Germany were after last summer’s World Cup.

Although Spain left South Africa with the World Cup, it was Germany who attracted the most plaudits for a vibrant, young team including Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer.

England’s team of established Premier League stars, meanwhile, were criticised for the underachievement at the tournament. But Capello is confident a new dawn is on the way for his England side and that the fresh faces he is now bringing through could soon draw the sort of praise Germany did last year.

At Wembley on Tuesday night, he included one player in his starting line-up, Jack Wilshere, who was making his fourth appearance, another, Andy Carroll, winning his second cap and handed debuts to Danny Welbeck and Matt Jarvis from the substitutes’ bench.

Given England were still able to get within an injury-time Asamoah Gyan equaliser of a victory over a very impressive Ghana outfit, little wonder Capello was in such a buoyant mood.

“I hope that people will talk about us like they did about Germany,” said Capello. “We have got some young players who are really good for the future. These players are improving a lot and playing with confidence.”

Capello also offered name-checks to Joe Hart and Gary Cahill, although it was Ashley Young who was given the greatest backing of all. Previously, Young had been viewed by Capello as one of the players who shrank when they pulled the Three Lions onto their chest.

However, released from his station on the wing at Aston Villa by Gerard Houllier, the 25-year-old has revelled in the space afforded by a central attacking role. Capello noted the improvement and has been overwhelmed by Young’s contribution to England’s last three games, by far his most consistent spell as an international.

“Last year Ashley Young played nearly always on the left wing and sometimes on the right,” said Capello. “This year he changed position and improved a lot. Now he is a really important player because the movement between the lines is there.”

Not that Capello is entirely happy with life, despite an excellent nine-day international break. Furious at the manner in which his pre-match comments about requiring only 100 words of English to get his points across, Capello rounded on his critics, stating: “Respect for the people is really important.” The Italian felt an important element of his observation had been missed out, namely that the 100 words were concerned with the technical aspects of his job, rather than the extent of his knowledge of the English language.

Capello does seem to have moved on from Friday’s savaging, though, to the extent that he felt compelled to warn an expectant public that despite the fine group of youngsters he has unearthed, those who have served him well in the past should not be forgotten.

“Don’t forget Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard because these are really important players, who have been really good for us,” he said. “But you need to find different solutions, depending on which kind of players are selected.”

Of the 23 players originally selected by Capello who were not released, only the back-up keeper, Robert Green, and Peter Crouch did not play some part over the two games, the first of which, against Wales, edged England slightly closer to a place at Euro 2012. Now he can only wait for the remaining two months of the domestic campaign to be concluded before he can sit down and finalise plans for the encounter with Switzerland on June 4, when Wayne Rooney will be absent through suspension.

“It is a really important squad and it will be difficult for me to select the players because the ones I had here were really good,” he said. “I don’t know what will happen in the future. It is a long way to arrive at Euro 2012 and there are still a lot of points to play for. But at this moment I am relaxed. I like being here and we are in a good position.”

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Avram Grant believes West Ham have suffered at the hands of referees more than any other team this season and could have already secured Premier League safety had it not been for dubious decisions against them.

The Hammers are 17th and outside the relegation places on goal difference alone as they head into their Saturday lunchtime clash with leaders Manchester United at Upton Park.

Grant believes teams will need 40 points or more to secure their top-flight status this year and thinks his side could be ten points better off had they had better luck with referees.

“I think we have suffered more than any other team because in the very deciding moments, as everyone has seen on the television, the decision was against us too many times,” he said.

“If the decision was right, we would have had at least ten points more. But this is part of the game, sometimes there are decisions against you. You can accept one decision that was for us, but most of the decisions were against us.”

Speaking on Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments that his side has suffered from poor decisions recently, he continued: “Everybody understands what Alex said and what he spoke about in the last games. I don’t know about Man United, I think about us. This is referees – sometimes they make mistakes.”

Refereeing decisions have been increasingly scrutinised in recent times and both Ferguson and Grant have been reprimanded by the Football Association in the past month for comments about decisions.

However, the latter does not believe refereeing standards are slipping and thinks mistakes are due to the changing nature of the game.

“I think if you look at games even five years ago and now – and I suggest to everybody that they look – the game is much quicker, more players are athletes,” he said.

“Even if you look ten years ago half of the players were athletes and half were technical. So the game has become more physical and more quick, and it is more difficult for the referees to take decisions.”

He added: “I have a few ideas but I don’t want to speak about this now because sometimes when I say what I think, people think I am criticising the referee, which I don’t have any intention to do.”

Grant was charged with improper conduct by the FA in March following comments he made about match official Mike Jones after his side’s 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Stoke.

The West Ham boss denied the charge and a personal hearing will be scheduled at a date no later than April 7.

Asked what was the worst decision against his side this season, he responded: “The last time I answered very honestly and the FA charged me so let’s say that all the decisions were great.”

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Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has revealed Steven Gerrard has almost completed his recovery after groin surgery, but he will wait and see whether the club captain will face West Brom on Saturday.

Dalglish believes Gerrard could play in the match after participating in much of training this week, but will not take any risks – as he believes there are players in the squad more than capable of deputising for at least another week.

“We’ll have a look. He’s recovered really well from the surgery he had so we’ll see how he is before we decide whether he’s in or out,” Dalglish said. “He’s certainly done a lot of training this week – not all the training the other lads have done, but a lot of it.

“But two weekends ago at Sunderland wee Jay [Spearing] played really well. There is no need for us to be in a rush to bring Steven back.”

Dalglish was relieved to see all his players return from international duty without picking up injuries. However, he did reveal Martin Kelly and Fabio Aurelio have suffered slight setbacks that could well keep them out of action at the weekend.

“Everyone has come back from international matches okay,” Dalglish said. “Martin Kelly picked up an injury while he was trying to recuperate and Jonjo Shelvey is back training. Kelly has just had a wee recurrence in the same area. Fabio Aurelio has had a setback as well but it isn’t the same injury. He should be training before the end of the week.”

Club record signing Andy Carroll opened his goalscoring account for England in midweek, an achievement Dalglish believes the 22-year-old can rightfully be proud of. The Scot also paid tribute to Fabio Capello’s handling of the Liverpool players he picked for both of the Three Lions’ games.

“It’s a great milestone for Andy to score his first goal, especially at Wembley,” he said. “It’s a great reward for him as well after his recuperation. It will give him a lift, kick him on further and it’s a great reflection of how he’s got on with his work and how our medical team has worked to get him there.

“The 60 minutes he got for England was very helpful in his recuperation and his fight to get back to full fitness. The way England treated our players was fantastic: the way they gave Andy the hour because they knew it wouldn’t be beneficial to play him longer, and the way they gave Glen Johnson 45 minutes because he had a slight problem with his Achilles. They were very professional and respectful with the way they treated both of our players.”

Dalglish admitted Liverpool are still working out how best to utilise Carroll tactically – especially the frequency of long balls played up to him.

“Sometimes when you’re struggling a wee bit it’s a great asset to have but we’ve got to pick and choose our moments,” he noted. “It’s up to us to get to know Andy, and Andy to get to know us. I don’t think we’ve done too badly in the game and a bit he’s played for us. We were better the second time than we were the first.

“We’ve got intelligent lads here and I’m sure they’ll work out when’s right and when’s wrong and they’ll get it right most of the time.”

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