Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho explained Gareth Bale's absence for last night's stunning 5-4 FA Cup defeat at Everton.

The Spurs manager insisted the Welshman was NOT injured.

The winger, 31, has struggled for form and game-time since joining the North Londoners on loan from Real Madrid.

And he was axed from Tottenham's squad again on Wednesday despite a lot of his minutes coming in the cups this season.

Speaking ahead of the game, Mourinho was asked why Bale had not travelled.

And he said: "Gareth is not on the bench because he wasn't happy with his training session yesterday.

"I wouldn't say an injury, not at all, but some feelings he wasn't happy with.

"So it was better for him to stay back and to be working with the sports science guys."

Mourinho added that Bale had asked for a scan on Monday.

That was despite him training on Tuesday and posting on Instagram that day that it had been “a good session".

Mourinho said: “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."