Tottenham Hotspur FC condemned Arsenal FC to a 2-1 defeat to move back into third place and seven points clear of their north London rivals.

In a contest that was slow to catch fire, Gareth Bale almost inevitably lit the fuse with his seventh goal in five league outings on 37 minutes. Skewering Arsenal's back line, Gylfi Sigurdsson sent the relentless Welsh international through on goal and he finished unerringly past Wojciech Szczęsny. The Gunners' concentration flickered again moments later, allowing an unopposed Aaron Lennon to skip around Szczęsny and slide in.

Despair turned to hope for Arsène Wenger's men six minutes after the restart when Per Mertesacker glanced in Theo Walcott's free-kick via a slight deflection off Bale. Spurs were wobbling, yet they should arguably have restored a two-goal advantage as Sigurdsson eschewed the obvious by trying to tee up Bale when one-on-one with Szczęsny.

Jermain Defoe had earlier replaced Emmanuel Adebayor and he was centimetres away from making an impact, dragging a shot narrowly wide. Aaron Ramsey followed suit at the other end, before an audacious Walcott free-kick whistled past a post. The tension inside White Hart Lane was tangible when six additional minutes were displayed, but Arsenal failed to make the most of it and now lie five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea FC.