Evening all. Tonight's match promises to be a good one as West Ham, who always perform well at home, welcome in-form Spurs to Upton Park.

BREAKING TEAM NEWS! Andy Carroll and Joe Cole start for the Hammers.

WEST HAM XI: Jaaskelainen; Demel, Collins, Reid, O'Brien; O'Neil, Diame, Nolan; Cole, Carroll, Jarvis

SPURS XI: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Caulker, Vertonghen; Parker, Dembele; Lennon, Bale; Holtby; Adebayor

Emmanuel Adebayor gets the nod ahead of Clint Dempsey up front for Spurs then, while Hugo Lloris returns in goal as expected.

And here are the two substitute benches:

West Ham: C.Cole, Collison, Vaz Te, Taylor, Pogatetz, Chamakh, Spiegel
Spurs: Friedel, Assou-Ekotto, Gallas, Naughton, Carroll, Livermore, Sigurdsson

As you can see, there's in fact no place in Villas-Boas's squad for Dempsey. The Portuguese coach has very little attacking options on the bench and he'll hope that Adebayor has a strong night at the office. Let's not forget Gareth Bale, of course.

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce knows the importance of Bale to Spurs. He said in the buildup to today's match: "From a goalscoring point of view [Spurs] have had to rely on one man and one man only to come up with the goods.

"That's Gareth Bale and he's been the major difference between Tottenham and the teams they've played recently."

West Ham's recent record against Spurs isn't one to be too proud of. The Hammers have only won one of their last 11 league games against the North Londoners - a 1-0 win in September 2010.

They'll be confident of a win in front of their own fans though. 22 of their 30 points this term have come at Upton Park and they have the third-worst record away from home. Only QPR and Reading have done worse when playing away.

Looking at the Premier League table, West Ham currently sit 13th but could move up to 11th or even 10th with a big win. A loss would keep them locked in the bottom half and just six points above Villa and Wigan at the top of the drop zone.

Allardyce, just speaking to Sky Sports News, acknowledges that Spurs are a good side and on very good form. He says that his side need to take their chances and be "more clinical" in front of goal if they are to take three points tonight. Allardyce is also hoping that Mr Bale has an "off night".

The Hammers boss also says that he is surprised at the height of the Tottenham defence tonight. Perhaps AVB feels he needs the three big men of Michael Dawson, Steven Caulker and Jan Vertonghen to stop the might of Andy Carroll, who leads the West Ham front line.

Carroll is likely to be supported by Matt Jarvis from the left and Joe Cole from the right. @OptaJoe tells us on Twitter that the former has had a tough season: "154 - West Ham's Matt Jarvis has delivered more crosses & corners without assisting a PL goal than any other player this season. Fruitless."

Back to Spurs and the white half of North London have a huge chance of reaching the Champions League once more. Their star man Bale has been saying that the team around him is stronger than the squad of Arsenal. Read more here.

AVB has been speaking to Sky Sports News and he admits that he does recognise that West Ham score a lot of their goals from set pieces. The Portuguese says that it would be "magnificent" to leapfrog Chelsea into third place.

Even though the Hammers will be dangerous from free kicks and corners, they've struggled to find the net against Spurs recently. They have scored a total of only three goals in their last eight Premier League games against the Whites.

In the reverse fixture in November Spurs won 3-1 thanks to a Jermain Defoe brace and another Bale strike. Defoe is out injured tonight, remember.

PREDICTION TIME! With 15 minutes until kickoff, it's time for my prediction. I'm plumping for Spurs and the same scoreline as as White Hart Lane - 3-1.

The grandchildren of West Ham and England legend Bobby Moore will lead out the two sides tonight to mark the 20th anniversary since the World Cup-winning captain passed away.

More interesting stats from @OptaJoe on Twitter. He points out that although Bale has stole the headlines this year, the importance of Moussa Dembele should not be overlooked: "2.32 - Tottenham have taken 2.32 points per PL game with Dembélé in the side this season, compared to 0.57 without him. Catalyst."

There will also be a minute's applause before the off in memory of Bobby Moore.

The punters out there are favouring a 1-1 draw tonight, at least with Betfair Sports anyway.

REFEREE WATCH: Tonight's man in charge is Howard Webb.

The two sides are lined up in the tunnel and here they come out onto the pitch.

Both sides are wearing their home colours with West Ham in claret-and-blue tops, white shorts and claret socks and Spurs in white tops, navy shorts and white socks.

Handshake formalities out of the way, we'll now have the minute's applause for Moore.

KICKOFF! The Hammers get us underway.

Just before kickoff there was an impressive display from one end of the ground as they held up claret and white paper to spell 'Moore 6' across the whole stand.

Bale and Holtby almost pull off a speedy one-two but the former can't quite keep it in.

Walker comes out on top in a 50-50 with O'Brien and the ball spins up for the Spurs right-back but his first touch is horrible and rolls through to Jaaskelainen. The Finnish stopper is making his 500th start in English league football.

SHOT! First sight of goal for Bale as he skips left of Collins but can't wrap his foot around it and it slices a few yards wide of goal.

YELLOW! First booking of the match is for Dembele as he chops down Nolan.

First decent effort from the Hammers as Holtby's pass is cut out by Nolan and Diame collects before firing low but straight at Lloris.

SAVE! West Ham break quickly as Carroll feeds Cole in the middle and the veteran finds Jarvis out on the left. The former Wolves man cuts inside onto his right and hits it well but again it's straight at Lloris who does well to hold on.

That shot from Bale in the fifth minute was the Welshman's 100th effort on goal in the league this term. He's scored 13 goals.

First chance for Lennon to attack the hosts' defence and he jinxes onto his right foot before fizzing a cross-shot low that Collins deflects away.

Who else? Bale picks up the ball on the edge of the area and hesitates and hesitates before firing back across Jaaskelainen from a tight position on the edge of the area. League goal number 14.

That goal from Bale was the perfect way to silence the West Ham fans who were chanting "Gareth Bale, he looks like a chimp."

Nolan almost threads a pass through for Cole, who had made a clever run, but just overhits it and Lloris is alert to hoof clear.

Bale's goal meant that the Welshman has scored the last five in the league for Spurs. @OptaJoe tells us: "5 - Gareth Bale has scored each of Tottenham's last five PL goals, the first player to do so since Frédéric Kanouté in 2003-04. Streak."

Walker unleashes a shot from 30 yards but doesn't get over it and it flies way, way over.

PENALTY TO WEST HAM! Carroll is tripped in the area.

The Hammers are level as Carroll converts emphatically from 12 yards. The big frontman was felled by Parker's reckless challenge in the box and took it upon himself to take the penalty with usual taker Mark Noble injured.

Looking at slo-mo replays of that penalty incident, Parker did get a clip on the ball but didn't win it cleanly as Carroll looked to dink it over him. Webb made the right call, in my opinion.

Gary Lineker makes a good point about the pen on Twitter: "Whether it was a penalty is debatable but no need to dive in like that. Stay on your feet, don't give ref chance to give it."

Lennon and Bale have switched wings for the time being and the former clips a cross to the back post that Bale tries to acrobatically scissor goalwards but gets it all wrong.

WEST HAM SUB: Nolan has been struggling with an injury for at least 15 minutes now and his night is over as Matt Taylor takes his place.

GREAT BLOCK! Cole controls the ball well and lobs it over the top for Jarvis who takes it well in his stride before lashing goalwards but it's stopped on the way by a sprawling Walker.

Delicious pass from Dembele through to Holtby and the young German checks back onto his left foot before blazing high and wide.

WHAT A SAVE! Bale swings over a corner and Caulker is up highest to bullet a header goalwards that Jaaskelainen claws away.

Two minutes added on at the end of the first half.

Spurs have a free kick about 40 yards out. This is likely to be the last kick of the half. Bale looks interested...

The Welshman gets so much dip on it but it doesn't quite come down enough to get under the bar.

An engrossing half of football in East London then. Bale opened the scoring with a precise finish before Carroll scored a penalty. If you've just joined us and don't want to read all the below updates, you can read Barney Corkhill's half-time report by clicking here.

Looking at the stats from that first half, West Ham had more of the possession (56%) but Spurs had far more shots (11 to West Ham's four).

Spurs are still favourites with the bookies at around 6/4 while West Ham are 11/4 and the draw is 7/5. I still fancy the visitors, especially as they have a superb second-half record this year.

This stat also isn't in West Ham's favour: They have won none of their last 10 Premier League games that have been 1-1 at half-time (D3, L7).

The two sides are back out for the second half, no changes from either manager.

KICKOFF! Bale and Adebayor get the second half underway.

Just a reminder that the only player on a booking from that first half was Spurs's Dembele.

Adebayor picks out Vertonghen with the outside of his boot and the Belgian's cross is actually pretty naff but it hits Demel before Jaaskelainen has to parry it out for a corner.

SAVE! Bale whips over the set piece and Caulker thumps his header at goal and once again Jaaskelainen beats it out like he did in the first half.

Dembele hauls down Cole and the Belgian really has to be careful. One more challenge like that and he'll be off. Taylor curls in the free kick and Lloris does well to catch.

West Ham are pressing Spurs into plenty of mistakes at the moment and if there's one team that looks more likely to score a third, it's the home side.

SPURS SUB: Holtby wasn't having the best of games and he's taken off for Gylfi Sigurdsson.

HOW HAVE SPURS NOT SCORED?! Sigurdsson comes within centimetres of making an instant impact as his curler is pushed onto the post by Jaaskelainen. The ball pops up perfectly for Adebayor following up and all he has to do is nod it into the open half of the net but he heads it straight at Jaaskelainen.

And West Ham punish Adebayor for that awful miss. O'Brien clips an inch-perfect pass for Cole over the top and he takes one touch with his back to goal before spinning and hitting his left-foot shot into the turf that bounces over Lloris and into the far corner.

Cole took off his jersey when celebrating and has of course been booked. Spurs thought the number 26 was offside, but he timed his run to perfection.

Diame bundles over Bale and he has another chance from the free kick.

This effort isn't as good as the one in the first half as he blazes it a long way over the crossbar.

SAVE! Once again it's a Bale corner that finds an unmarked Caulker in the middle. The centre-back heads it down and it bounces up but can't beat Jaaskelainen. That's the third time the pair have linked up and each time Jussi has kept it out with great saves. Shocking marking from West Ham.

FINGERTIPS! Bale has a pocket of space on the edge of the box and he manages to dig out a shot from under his feet that Jaaskelainen leaps up to his right to tip onto the top of the crossbar. The Finn is having a fine game.

YELLOW! O'Neil is booked for bringing down Bale cynically. Another FK chance for the Welshman. This one slightly closer...

Yet again he gets too much height on it and Jaaskelainen sees it over the bar.

WEST HAM SUB: Emmanuel Pogatetz replaces Guy Demel.

CHANCE! What an opportunity for West Ham to go two ahead. Cole picks out Taylor's run and the first-half substitute is onside. He takes a touch before shooting on goal but by that time Lloris is right at his feet and thwarts him.

SPURS SUB: Villas-Boas brings on young Tom Carroll in place of Dembele for some more firepower up front.

It's a scrappy, scrappy goal from Spurs but they weren't care a jot. Bale whips in a free kick from the right and it ricochets off a West Ham player against Carroll's arms before bobbling around of Caulker and Adebayor and finally being bundled home by Sigurdsson from a couple of yards.

That's Sigurdsson's first goal for Spurs in the league on his 23rd appearance.

SAVE! What a night Jaaskelainen is having on his 500th PL start. Lennon gets in behind Pogatetz and cuts it back for Bale who turns it goalwards but straight against the chest of Jussi.

AND ANOTHER SAVE! Unless he makes a huge howler in the closing stages, Jaaskelainen is nailed on for man of the match! This time it's Vertonghen who crosses for Adebayor. The Togolese heads it powerfully but Jussi does superbly to push it away from danger.

WEST HAM SUB: The energetic Diame comes off for Jack Collison.

A long ball isn't cleared by Spurs and it drops down for Carroll who decides to take a touch instead of lashing goalwards and Spurs manage to clear.

Jarvis floats up a ball for Carroll and he goes for the spectacular but gets far too much on it.

SPURS SUB: AVB makes his final change as Jake Livermore comes on for Parker.

OH MY! OH MY!

Simply stunning from the Welshman. He can do no wrong at the moment. He picks the ball up 30 yards out from goal and smashes a stunning effort into the far top corner. Jaaskelainen has been amazing tonight but even he can't stop that.

Four minutes have been added on, by the way.

We've seen stunning goals from Rafael, Dimitar Berbatov and Papiss Cisse this weekend but that eclipses them all. Yet another wonderstrike from the Tottenham number 11.

Not only was that goal a moment to remember from Bale but it's huge for Spurs in their push for Champions League football next year. They go above Chelsea into third place and are now six points behind second-placed Man City.

A loss for West Ham means that they drop a place to 14th and remain six points above the relegation zone.

If you've just joined us and want a concise summary of the match then click here for Barney Corkhill's match report with full-size images from the game. Thanks for joining Sports Mole, be sure to stick around on site for analysis and reaction throughout the night. Until next time, goodnight!