After suffering a shock 1-0 defeat against Wolves last Saturday, all eyes were on Harry Redknapp's side to see if they had the quality to break into the top four this season.
City may have been missing Joleon Lescott through injury but Tottenham looked a class above their top-half rivals and managed to close the gap on fourth placed Aston Villa to just two points.
After spending around £200m on new players, Hughes will clearly be feeling the pressure once again after seeing his side win just one of their last ten league games.
Tottenham almost broke the deadlock after just eight minutes. A superb back-heel from Peter Crouch picked out Aaron Lennon who broke away down the right.
The England winger cut the ball back for Niko Kranjcar who fired the ball just past the post.
The home side continued to mount pressure on the City goal and got their just rewards when they opened the scoring on 37 minutes.
The ever-impressive Lennon always had the upper hand over City left back Sylvinho and made him look second best once again when he raced past the former Arsenal defender.
The England winger raced away down the right and his clever pass picked out Crouch whose header came back off Stephen Ireland's chest.
The ball fell perfectly for Kranjcar who made no mistake striking the ball into the back of the net.
Tottenham should have doubled their lead just sixty seconds later when Defoe's ball fell to Crouch unmarked inside the box but he failed to direct his shot past Shay Given.
It may have been route one but Spurs fans will not care after seeing Defoe add the crucial second on 53 minutes.
Heurelho Gomes' long free-kick picked out Crouch inside the penalty area. The England forward used his aerial dominance to beat Nedum Onuoha and head the ball into the path of his strike partner Defoe.
Defoe showed all his predatory instincts when fired the ball past Given into the corner of the net for his 14th goal of the season.
Gomes produced a fine save on 86 minutes to deny Martin Petrov's powerful free-kick, but Kranjcar wrapped up the victory for Tottenham in injury time when he took the ball around Emmanuel Adebayor and fired a shot through the legs of Given.