Spurs new manager Martin Joi got off to a winning start on Tuesday as they beat Championship side Burnley 3-0 in their League Cup fourth round clash.
Ireland international Robbie Keane notched a double and England striker Jermain Defoe added a third to see them safely through to the fifth round in a competition that is the last- trophy they won back in 1999.
Their north London rivals Arsenal got their first win in five matches as a second string side beat Premiership rivals Everton 3-1 with Arturo Lupoli scoring a double after the Liverpool-based outfit had gone ahead in the eighth minute.
However there was more pain for Premiership strugglers Southampton as they were humiliated 5-2 by Championship side Watford and it was doubled as their bitter south coast rivals Portsmouth eased through 2-0 over another Championship side Cardiff.
Keane eased Spurs fans nerves after a scoreless half-an-hour as he shot home from a fine cross by midfielder Michael Carrick, who former boss Jacques Santini had refused to play during his brief and undistinguished time in power which ended in his surprise resignation last Friday.
Joi was especially happy that Carrick had made an immediate impact and his comments left little to the imagination as to who had been responsible for the midfielder's misery.
"I am delighted for him as I thought when he came here he would be the fourth England international at the club," said the Dutchman.
"He has had a difficult time since he came here but hopefully he will come on stronger for this," said Joi, who made his name at unheralded Dutch sides RKC Waalwijk, Den Haag and Roda JC Kerkrade winning Dutch coach of the year honours twice.
Keane then virtually wrapped up the clash seven minutes into the second-half as he tapped in after impressive work by Defoe and then the Irishman returned the favour as his neat flicked on header reached his strike partner and he curled the ball into the net.
Joi ^aid that he hadn't been happy with the first-half perfor- mance but there was enough to take from the second period to give him confidence ahead of this weekend's match at home to Arsenal where they will bid to end a run of four successive defeats in the Premiership.
"We needed that sort of result to give us something to build on going into hosting Arsenal," said Joi, who played for English sides Coventry and West Brom during his playing career.
Everton’s abrasive Danish international midfielder Thomas Gravesen fired home a powerful long range effort in the eighth minute to send shivers down Arsenal fans spines that their second team had caught the jitters their first choice side had in recent weeks.
However the Gunners were level by the 25th minute as Quincy Owusu-Abeyie showed what a precocious talent he is by scoring with a superb individual run and shot past Nigel Martyn - Lupoli's second-half double did the rest to
end Everton’s dreams.
Everton at least are high up in the Premiership but Southampton have no such consolation as they fight an almost inevitable season longbattle against the drop and Watford's hammering of them will have done little for morale.
The Championship outfit went into the break 1-0 up but three goals in a 14 minute period of the second-half - James Chambers scoring two of them - destroyed Saints who grabbed two late consolation goals including one from Dexter Blackstock, who scored a hat- trick in the previous round.
Portsmouth also had a double scoring hero in the shape of Nigerian international Aiyegbeni Yakubu, who scored twice in eight minutes of the second-half to seal their place in the next round.
The other four ties take place on Wednesday.