The possibility of moving into third place and leapfrogging Chelsea will act as motivation for Tottenham when they visit London rivals West Ham in their English Premier League game Wednesday.
Spurs are currently fourth on 48 points from 26 games, one behind third-placed Chelsea and one ahead of Arsenal, who are fifth.
A win will take them two points clear of the Blues, who lost to Manchester City in their Premier League game Sunday, and into third place.
"It's a difficult game at a difficult stadium," Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas said. Full of passion and emotion.
"It's not going to be easy but we are on a good run. Hopefully we can get three points and be third at the end of the week."
Spurs are indeed on a brilliant 10-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, of which six of them have been wins, and one man in particular has been the main reason for the North London side's good record this season.
Gareth Bale is in the best form of his career so far, and has been one of the standout players in the Premier League. Every time he has possession, something magical is expected, and Spurs will again be banking on the brilliance of the flying Welshman at Upton Park Monday.
West Ham on the other hand are not in the best of form, having lost four out of their last six games, and the pressure certainly will be on Sam Allardyce to come up with a positive result or risk the danger of falling into a relegation battle, with the Hammers currently only six points clear of the relegation places.
Allardyce acknowledged nullifying the threat posed by Bale would go a long way in stopping Tottenham on their tracks. "They've been very good," the West Ham manager said. "The team from an attacking point of view has been outstanding.
"Recently they've lost their leading goalscorer, who is Jermain Defoe, and Adebayor has been away at the Africa Cup of Nations, so from a goalscoring point of view they've 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.
"Not only has he scored very important goals, but they've been stunning goals at that. He's going to need some looking after on Monday night. If we can do that we nullify a threat that Tottenham have."
West Ham welcome back James Collins and Joey O'Brien, both of whom started training last week after missing out due to hamstring and thigh injuries respectively. George McCartney is also on the comeback trail, but the Monday game comes too early for him.
Spurs have the same injury list as their Europa League encounter against Lyon, with Jermain Defoe still not ready to face his former side, while Tom Huddlestone, Younnes Kaboul and Sandro remain ruled out.
Expected lineups: West Ham: Jaaskelainen; O'Brien, Reid, Collins, Pogatetz; Noble, Diame; Taylor, Nolan, Cole; Carroll.
Tottenham: Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton; Dembele, Parker; Lennon, Holtby, Bale; Adebayor.
Prediction: 2-2
