Andre Villas-Boas dismisses claims Gareth Bale will leave Tottenham this summer

Andre Villas-Boas has been assured that Tottenham talisman Gareth Bale will be at White Hart Lane next season, regardless of whether Spurs qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

Top form

Tottenham will need to have Bale on top form on Saturday if they are to register a much-needed win against his former team Southampton. Spurs once held a seven-point lead over Arsenal, but a poor run of form means the Londoners sit two points outside the top four with four matches left. They will need to beat the Saints to keep the pressure on Arsenal and Chelsea ahead of their crunch clash with the Blues next Wednesday, but Villas-Boas sees no reason to panic. He said: "Nobody's shooting themselves in the foot. We are in an extremely good position, we have to our job to make sure we are successful. "It's extremely competitive. To have 62 points at this point is extremely good." Villas-Boas has the comfort of knowing that playmaker Mousa Dembele is likely to be fit after recovering from a muscle injury that forced him off in the first half of last week's draw at Wigan. "He's making a good recovery, hopefully he joins training tomorrow and we'll reassess him and see how it looks. There is a good chance that he can play the game," Villas-Boas said. Emmanuel Adebayor and Jake Livermore, who both missed the trip to the DW Stadium, are also available.