Both teams put on a great display in what was a highly entertaining match even though it took nearly 45 minutes to break the deadlock.
When a goal came, it came from an unlikely source in right-back Paul Stalteri when it could have been Spurs' top striker Robbie Keane who opened the scoring.
The Irishman's first chance came on 21 minutes when he pounced on a hashed clearance by former Spurs defender Ben Thatcher, but he tried to be a little too clever with his attempted lob over David James.
On 38 minutes he was denied by James in even more spectacular fashion when the ball fell to the Irishman 16 yards out and the England goalkeeper tipped his rasping shot onto the bar.
This was far and away James' best moment of the game in which he was taunted constantly by the home fans over his reduced standing in the England set-up.
Indeed Spurs fans made the most of it when he mis-controlled the ball after rushing 20 yards out of his goal on 20 minutes. He was dispossessed by Mido, but fortunately for James the Egyptian striker's touch let him down and the City defenders were able to track back.
Other than that incident he showed the best of his ability when it comes to shot-stopping and he was unlucky with the opening goal.
It was Keane again who caused the initial trouble after turning Richard Dunne inside out and hitting a low hard shot which James did well to parry.
Stalteri, however, was on hand to tap in for the first goal and only the second of his Spurs career.
City did have their chances as the ever-improving strike partnership of Darius Vassell and Georgios Samaras gave the Spurs defence, weakened by the absence of Michael Dawson, plenty to think about.
Sadly for them, their best chances feel at the feet of makeshift midfielder Micah Richards who fired wide after great link-up play after 18 minutes and then had a shot blocked on the line by Lee Young-Pyo in the 66th minute.
Other than that they were largely restricted to long-range shots and City were left rueing their missed chances when Spurs doubled their lead just after half-time.
A delightful ball over the top of the City defence by Teemu Tainio fell nicely at the feet of Michael Carrick on 49 minutes and he made no mistake as he crashed home the second Spurs goal of his career.
It looked like the Champions League chasers would begin to turn the screw at this point, but they were left stunned when they failed to deal with a long throw from Sylvain Distin just three minutes later.
The ball was allowed to drift to the far post undefended and all it needed was a light touch from Samaras to help it in to give the travelling fans hope.
But to Spurs' credit they showed why they are where they are in the table and did not sit back as they contributed to a great second half.
They almost hit back straight away when Keane had a goal disallowed for offside after good work down the right by Jermaine Jenas.
Nonetheless Spurs dealt with any remaining pressure City were able to offer for the remainder of the game as the home defence grew in stature to hold on for a vital win.