Tottenham have not scored in their past three Premier League matches and Wales ace Bale says this means they are always chasing the game.

Tottenham sold Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United and Robbie Keane to Liverpool in the summer and, having let Jermain Defoe go to Portsmouth in January, that left Darren Bent as their only striker with any Premier League experience.

"We just can't seem to get the ball in the back of the net at the moment," the Wales international said.

"But the fact we do seem to be playing better as a team suggests that win will come sooner rather than later.

"I think the key in these games might be to score the first goal because that could settle us down so we can play our own game instead of chasing all the time."

Tottenham have scored just four goals in seven league matches this season - and one of those came from Middlesbrough's Robert Huth on the opening day of the season.

Roman Pavlyuchenko was brought in from Spartak Moscow for £13.8m on transfer deadline day but he has just one goal in the Carling Cup victory at Newcastle and has already admitted he is finding the going tough in the English top flight.

The other options up front are on-loan Manchester United forward 21-year-old Fraizer Campbell, who helped Hull win promotion last season, and Giovani Dos Santos, signed from Barcelona for £4.7m.