Gareth Bale relishing Tottenham’s tough start to the new Premier League season

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Gareth Bale is relishing an exciting start to the Premier League season for Tottenham.

Spurs begin the 2011-12 campaign at home to Everton on August 13, followed by a trip to Old Trafford a week later, with their third match at White Hart Lane against Manchester City a week after that.

The Welshman believes that although there are never easy games in the English top-flight, the first few fixtures will provide a challenging but enticing opening to the season.

“They are all hard matches but that’s the case when you play any team in the Premier League,” the 21-year-old said to the club’s official website.

“Everton is always a tough game and the two Manchester teams are amongst the best in the league, but getting them early might just be good for us. Hopefully we can get into our rhythm early and get positive results.

“If we start well it will make teams sit up and take notice and getting points on the board from those matches would be great for confidence. It would set us up for the rest of the season.”

The left-sided Welsh international then went into more depth on the first three matches.

“Everton are a good side and they’ve proved it over the years,” said Bale.

“They always finish close to the top six. It will be difficult and the way they set up, especially at White Hart Lane, is always tough for us.

“We’ve played well at Old Trafford in the last couple of seasons but the luck always seems to go against us. Hopefully we can get a good result against Everton and take that into the United game.

“I’m sure City will be looking to push on again, they are in the Champions League and I’m sure they will be right up there again.

“It will be a difficult game but playing these teams at the start of the season can be good for us. I’m sure the lads will relish these fixtures and it makes for an exciting start to the season.

“These are all big games and we’ve certainly got plenty of big-game players.”

Bale was one of the star performers in Tottenham’s Champions League run to last year’s quarter-finals, despite struggling with injury towards the end of the season.

The side, managed by Harry Redknapp, were unable to match the previous season’s fourth place table position but Spurs did qualify for the Europa League after finishing fifth.