Gareth Bale hat-trick during 4-0 victory for Tottenham as Aston Villa crumble in second-half horror show Three times he drifted off his wing to join breaks and finished unerringly when given the chance. Andre Villas-Boas is loath to single out individuals but Bale's performance left him with little choice. "He's up there with the best, he's showing tremendous skills and ­talent," the Portuguese said. I think he's improving every game. You recognise he is one of our major assets, for sure. His personality is wonderful. He's going through an excellent moment of his professional and personal life and at the moment we are benefiting from that. While Bale left with the match-ball and warm words from his manager, for a while it looked like the evening might end in frustration. Villa were self-evidently fragile after the chastening defeat at Chelsea, but thanks to goalkeeper Brad Guzan and sloppiness from Spurs they got away with it for almost an hour. Three times in the first half Guzan produced saves to keep his side in the game, the pick of them a one-handed tip over with his wrong hand from a dipping Bale shot that was heading for the top left-hand corner. Half-time offered Villa respite and Lambert switched to a flat-back four, and gave orders for his side to snap into Spurs. It prompted a mini-revival but after Christian Benteke was twice caught casually offside, a four-minute blast from Spurs killed the game. The breakthrough came from Defoe, bursting on to a well-judged through-ball from fullback Kyle Naughton to toe-poke his finish between Guzan's legs. Bale then took over, killing the game stone-dead as Villa walked on to a classic counterpunch. Sandro cut out a Benteke cross on the edge of his own box and after Ciaran Clarke and Joe Bennett's fluffed chances to kill the danger the ball found its way Bale, stampeding through the middle. He dropped his shoulder to round Guzan and rolled his finish into the empty net. His second came a dozen minutes later, firing into the bottom corner after being found unmarked 14 yards by Aaron Lennon. The hat-trick was secured from a similar position with six minutes remaining, substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson this time providing the pass. It is only 11 days since Villa beat Liverpool at Anfield and Lambert tried his best to sound phlegmatic in defeat, insisting that his young charges will be "fine" despite the trauma of recent days. There is no pressure on those lads. They did not get too carried away with euphoria of wins at Norwich and Liverpool. They will be fine," he said. We had a good chat the other day. This is their first crack at Premier League football. Whether it is also their last depends on how they respond to the hardest week of their professional lives, starting against Wigan on Saturday. Aston Villa: Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini would help, but with Paul Lambert committed to youth a plunge on experienced players to help out seems unlikely. Tottenham Hotspur: A third striker would strengthen Spurs but Andre Villas-Boas dismissed links with Wesley Sneijder and said he anticipates a quiet January.