• Miss against Bolton in FA Cup was fourth of the season
• Huddlestone follows in footsteps of Defoe and Keane

Gareth Bale says his Tottenham Hotspur team-mates could be ordered to start practising penalties in training after a fourth miss from the spot in yesterday’s draw at 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Tom Huddlestone followed in the footsteps of Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane earlier in the season when he failed to score from the spot. The replay will take place on Wednesday 24 February, with Bolton moving their match with Blackburn to Sunday. That game was scheduled to be the Monday evening game, just 48 hours before the Cup tie.

Bale said: “We don’t practise penalties really and it’s disappointing we missed one but things like that happen. Tom was down to take it before the game and he was unlucky. Will we practise them more now? You never know.”

Defoe said the side were criticised by the Spurs’ manager, Harry Redknapp, at half-time against Bolton. “We should have won it in the end,” Defoe said. “We had a bit of a rollicking at half-time and we deserved it because we didn’t compete in the first half. You know it’s always going to be difficult at Bolton. You have to compete and the rest of the game will then take care of itself, we know we’ll always create chances. First though, you have to compete otherwise a team like Bolton will get on top and that’s what happened in the first half.”

Defoe, after scoring against Bolton to take his tally to 21 this season, added: “There’s still a long way to go and I just want to keep doing what I’m doing, keep getting on the end of chances and try to score as many goals as possible.”

Tottenham HotspurFA Cupguardian.co.uk

• Re-arranging fixtures ‘a nightmare’, says Wenger
• Liverpool and Tottenham face major congestion

Arsène Wenger can sometimes appear a lone voice in the world of the Premier League manager, and not only because of his non-interest in horse-racing and the post-match drink. Yet the Arsenal manager spoke for the majority, and certainly those of his colleagues with a European interest in the second half of the season, when he assessed the impact of the bleak mid-winter weather.

“The fixtures are a nightmare,” said the Arsenal manager, as he looked ahead to the inevitable pile-up. “To find reasonable dates in the season is difficult. We tried everything to play last Wednesday against Bolton [when the match was snowed off] and we were glad to play on Saturday against Everton because it’s difficult to find the dates.”. All of the so-called Big Four face unenviable work-loads as they juggle the demands of domestic and European competition while Fulham and Everton, too, have progressed into the knock-out phase of the Europa League. The snow and ice, however, has ratcheted up the pressure on everyone, particularly as the domestic season is scheduled to finish early to allow Fabio Capello’s England squad extra time to prepare for the World Cup finals. The question of how to squeeze in postponed matches is vexing.

“I think the Premier League will extend the season for an extra week or so,” said the Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan, whose club have been forced to postpone home games against Aston Villa and Bolton during the cold snap. “I think it is an absolute must, because games are piling up for everybody. Some of these teams are also still in the Carling Cup, the FA Cup and also in Europe and it’s going to be a nightmare for them if they don’t look to extend the season.”

Liverpool and Tottenham may rearrange their Premier League fixture at Anfield, which was postponed on Sunday, for either Tuesday or Wednesday night of next week. No final decision has yet been taken but the case is representative of the general problem. If the clubs, and the Premier League, confirm either date, it would mean Liverpool, starting with tomorrow night’s FA Cup third round replay against Reading, would face a sequence of six matches in 17 days while Tottenham would have five in 14.

“We have seen it many times when teams suddenly end up having these kind of runs and it gets difficult towards the end of the season,” said the Tottenham manager, Harry Redknapp. “It can make or break their season.”

Although the Premier League would consider accommodating domestic games on Uefa match nights, it may have reason to dread its leading clubs being involved in FA Cup replays or merely making the latter stages of the competition; the FA Cup quarter- and semi-finals clash with Premier League dates.

It was revealing to note Wenger’s reaction to Manchester United’s FA Cup third round defeat to Leeds. He remarked that at least it meant they would have a free weekend before the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie against Milan. Finding the space to breathe has become an obsession.

Arsène WengerArsenalHarry RedknappTottenham HotspurPremier LeagueDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk