Tottenham got back to winning ways with a 3-1 win over West Ham at White Hart Lane.

Defoe put Spurs ahead just before half time with a superb individual goal before Bale doubled the lead early in the second half.

Defoe got his second to make it 3-0 on 64 minutes and the goal quashed any chance of a West Ham revival, with Spurs only looking more likely to add to their lead.

Andy Carroll pulled one back nine minutes from time but Spurs stifled a late rally from the visitors to climb to seventh in the Premier League table, level on points with Arsenal.

Spurs dominated proceedings without really testing Jaaskelainen in the first half and West Ham came back into the game during a ten minute spell before Tottenham took the lead through Defoe.

The forward did brilliantly to wriggle free from two players on the right wing before running to the edge of the box, cutting inside a third West Ham defender and letting fly into the bottom right corner.

Bale doubled Spurs lead when he finished low into the bottom corner after being played through into the box with a clever chip from Dempsey.

The Welshman, who put on a superb offensive display throughout the 90 minutes, showed quick feet to control and finish before the West Ham defence could close in.

Defoe appeared to have wrapped up all three points with 30 minutes left when he tapped Aaron Lennon’s pass across goal into an empty net.

Sandro won the ball in mid field and Lennon skipped past the last defender before running one-on-one with Jaaskelainen and squaring to Defoe.

The striker was lucky not to receive a second yellow when he brought down O’Brien on the edge of the Spurs box.

With Adebayor suspended for the next two league games, Andre Villas-Boas could do without any lapse in discipline from his only other recognised forward.

Bale rattled the underside of the crossbar from the edge of the box in the first half and Defoe did the same early in the second.

West Ham should have scored early in the second half when Nolan found himself one-one-one with Lloris, but he opted to square to Jarvis, allowing the goalkeeper to intercept.

Fourth official Mark Clattenburg made his first appearance at a Premier League game since being accused of racially abusing Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel while refereeing four weeks ago.

The 37-year-old, who was cleared by the FA this week, was forced to step in to sort out some heated discussions between West Ham’s and Spurs’ back room staff after one or two late tackles in the first half.

Spurs now face Liverpool at home on Wednesday as they look to put a run of four games without a win prior to this fixture behind them.

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Caulker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Sandro (Livermore, 85), Huddlestone, Lennon (Dembele, 78), Dempsey, Bale, Defoe. Subs: Friedel, Gallas, Naughton, Sigurdsson, Carroll.

Bookings: Defoe (33).

West Ham: Jaaskelainen, O'Brien, Reid, Tomkins, McCartney, Noble, Nolan, Diame, O'Neil (Taylor, 54), Maiga (Jarvis, 31), Carroll. Subs: Spiegel, Demel, Collins, Moncur, Cole.

Bookings: O’Brien (7), Noble (28).

Att: 36,043.