Gareth Bale has continued his stellar form with a match-winning double as Tottenham defeated London rivals West Ham United 3-2 at Upton Park tonight.

The Welshman made it eight goals in his past six outings for Spurs to send the club third on the table ahead of Chelsea whilst West Ham dropped to 14th despite leading with just under 15 minutes remaining.

Bale opened the scoring with a fine finish from the edge of the area in the 13th minute before Andy Carroll replied from the penalty spot just over ten minutes later.

Joe Cole allowed Sam Allardyce's men to edge ahead just before the hour-mark but a late Spurs show wrapped up the points with Gylfi Sigurdsson coming off the bench to tie it up in the 76th minute.

Enter Bale, who then fired home from range in the final minute of regular time to for his 15th Premier League goal of the season which sent Andre Villas-Boas' men into the top three ahead of their North London derby with Arsenal this weekend.

West Ham United: 2 (Andy Carroll (p) 25', Joe Cole 58') Tottenham: 3 (Gareth Bale 13'/90', Gylfi Sigurdsson 76')

Upton Park, London - 35,005