Bale wonderstrike puts Tottenham ahead of Chelsea

Gareth Bale ensured his team go four points above Chelsea with a victory at Upton Park. The Welshman’s winner from 35 yards out is his 19^th goal of the season.

West Ham started out the brighter side with plenty of possession, threatening Tottenham’s keeper in the opening ten minutes.

However it was the visitors that took the lead with Gareth Bale easing past James Collins and Guy Demel before placing the ball in the far corner with his left-foot effort.

Just 15 minutes after going behind, the home side were awarded a penalty. The referee wasted no time with his decision after a clumsy two-footed challenge from Parker on Andy Carroll. The Hammers striker took the penalty himself and equalised.

In the second half Spurs had the best chance of the game so far, Sigurdsson’s powerful shot was tipped on to the post by Jaaskelainen before the Fin keeper had to compose himself and save the follow up from Adebayor.

At the other end of the pitch Joe Cole made no mistakes with his aiming when he ran past Caulker before drilling his shot past Lloris to make it 2-1 to West Ham. With only a quarter of an hour to go, the home side looked to be in a good position to claim all three points but Spurs had other ideas.

Bale’s freekick troubled the West Ham defence as they failed to clear the 21-year old’s effort and the ball found Sigurdsson who, this time around made his final touch count and the scores were all tied once again.

With only ten seconds on the clock, Gareth Bale picked up the ball from 35 yards out and scored an absolute screamer which stunned the home side as well as the West Ham keeper who could not have kept it out.

Thanks to that fine effort, Tottenham are now sitting comfortable in the third spot ahead of Chelsea, whose defeat to Manchester City on the weekend could harm their chances of qualifying to compete in next season’s Champions League.

Tottenham will take on 5th placed Arsenal in their North London derby this Sunday, with only four points between them in the Premier League.

Umida Ibrahimova, sports correspondent