Gareth Bale, returning from injury, dinked a third as Spurs moved to within a point of fourth-placed Chelsea.Up to that point, City's assurance in possession, coupled with their willingness to drive forward on the counter-attack, served to frustrate the majority inside a subdued White Hart Lane. Spurs talisman Bale, who has missed two games with ankle ligament damage, was almost anonymous in the opening 75 minutes before he followed up his assist for the equaliser by scoring the third.Bale's goal capped a dramatic turnaround in north London and means United will clinch their 20th top-flight crown by beating Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Monday.The visitors spurned several chances to double their lead as Nasri poked wide from Carlos Tevez's ingenious flick and Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris stopped the Argentine striker's header with an instinctive one-handed save.Roberto Mancini's defending champions are 13 points adrift of their cross-city rivals with five games left to play for both sides.Spurs looked a completely different team as their energy levels rose, in contrast to a City team who started to look like they were feeling the effects, both mentally and physically, of a hectic week.Yet for the majority of the match it seemed as though City would clinch a routine win and keep their slim hopes of retaining the title alive after Nasri steered in James Milner's pullback.
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