Three quick goals at the start of the second half helped Tottenham come from behind to beat Brentford.
The Bees took an early lead in north London, but were upset by the resurgent hosts after the break, who then set up a nervy finish.
Ange Postecoglou’s charges climbed above Aston Villa into fourth place, while Thomas Frank’s charges missed the chance to climb to 12th.
How the game unfolded
Tottenham cut Brentford free a couple of times during the opening exchanges, with Oliver Skipp notably releasing Dejan Kulusevskiy behind the back line, but Mathias Jensen made a superb challenge to deny his Scandinavian counterpart at the end.
A similar scenario unfolded at the other end when Neal Maupay sent Kean Lewis-Potter on a breakaway, but the Frenchman picked his pocket after receiving the ball again inside the box from Skipp.
Mads Roerslev put the ball in the net shortly after, but was hindered by a foul flag on Jensen.
But Brentford took the lead with their next attack. Destiny Udogie gave away possession too quickly in the middle of the park and Ivan Toney quickly broke through. His shot was well parried by Guglielmo Vicario but Maupay managed to convert the rebound.
The Spurs wanted to equalise straight away and almost scored with a shot from Tim Werner, but Mark Flekken spotted the danger late and pushed it past the post. After a corner, Werner headed wide after being left unmarked at the far post.
Half of the Tottenham Hotspur stadium thought Richarlison’s shot from distance had found the back of the net, but instead the ball whistled past the post and bounced back off the post.
Brentford frustrated their hosts with a series of late goals towards the end of the first half – Ethan Pinnock came closest to scoring with an improvised back-heel on the second delivery from a corner.
Spurs thought they had equalised when Richarlison stripped Nathan Collins of the ball in his own six-yard box and played Flekken through, but the Brazilian only caught the ankles of a defender and the goal was cancelled out.
Postecoglou substituted both midfield players at the break to try and stem the tide, with Brennan Johnson and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg replacing Rodrigo Bentancur and Skip.
Whatever the Spurs boss said at the break seemed to work, as his team equalised within minutes of the restart. Udogie made amends for his mistake for the opening goal, which he scored at the second attempt after Pinnock.
Tottenham continued with their next attack. Werner broke free down the left and pulled the ball back to allow Johnson to score at the far post.
A third Spurs goal soon followed. After a fast break, James Maddison fired a shot that was blocked by Pinnock, but the ball fell nicely to Richarlison, who cleared it into the net.
Toney fired a scorching shot from distance past the post which would have undoubtedly beaten Vicario had it been on target as Brentford tried to find a way back into the contest.
He came even closer seconds later when Spurs gave away possession cheaply and Maupay put it through. However, after spinning and turning past Vicario and Micky van de Ven, Toney pulled his shot wide.
Toney scored with his next attempt. Udogie wanted to play the ball back to Vicario but he failed to spot the striker who was idling behind the goalkeeper, and the England international made no mistake this time with a precise finish.
Brentford had seven minutes of stoppage time to snatch a point back and they almost equalised again when Josh Dasilva assisted Shandon Baptiste, but Vicario denied him with a fine tackle up top.
It was the closest the Bees would get, with Tottenham holding on for the three points.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1) player ratings:
GK: Guglielmo Vicario – 6/10 – Couldn’t do much for Brentford’s goal. Once again, he provided some superb defending.
RB: Pedro Porro – 5/10 – The Spaniard didn’t play his best game for either side on the anniversary of signing for Tottenham.
CB: Cristian Romero – 5/10 – Terribly slow to react to Maupay’s action. This seemed to wake him up, but he was up to the task after that mistake.
CB: Micky van de Ven – 6/10 – Tottenham’s most reliable defender who didn’t shy away from duels with Toney.
LB: Destiny Udogie – 5/10 – Scored the goal after half-time that sparked Spurs’ comeback, but also scored two goals himself. An extremely mixed night.
CM: Oliver Skipp – 6/10 – He proved to be one of Tottenham’s more effective players in the first half but was sacrificed at the break.
CM: Rodrigo Bentancur – 5/10 – At times he was guilty of playing the ball sloppily. Like Skipp, he was sent off at half-time.
RM: Dejan Kulusevski – 5/10 – He stepped up after half-time but failed to assert himself too many times.
AM: James Maddison – 7/10 – Didn’t look fully fit in his first appearance since November but did his best and helped, if only by getting his head up and finding others.
LM: Timo Werner – 8/10 – He was often in a dangerous position in the final half and his lack of technique made it almost impossible for him to have an impact on the game, but after the break he made amends and led the Spurs attack.
CF: Richarlison – 9/10 – Had to feed on crumbs for most of the evening, but did well to earn a goal after a selfless performance [OUR MAN OF THE MATCH].