Keane and Huddlestone make it a perfect day for Spurs on King's return

As if to emphasise the worth of the Spanish coach's conditioning work, bulky midfielder Tom Huddlestone helped himself to two. He was ably supported by Robbie Keane, who also scored twice to take his Premier League goals tally to 100, while Jermain Defoe came off the bench to round off a comprehensive victory.

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As if that was not enough for Ramos, as he acclimatised himself to a packed holiday programme, the sight of Ledley King returning to captain the side must have left him wondering how dull a fortnight's break in La Liga can be.

Ramos had been unimpressed by what he considered an overweight squad. But the manner of Tottenham's win over Fulham demonstrated the benefit of abstinence.

'Turkey is good for you but not what goes with it — potatoes or alcohol,' quipped Ramos about English Yuletide eating habits — before becoming deadly serious about how far he felt standards had slipped under Martin Jol.

'Since I've been here the team have improved a lot physically which has led to the good results and our rise up the table,' he said.

'There are players on the team who have slimmed down quite a bit. They are obviously a lot lighter and the team appreciate it because we needed this to happen.'

Huddlestone, in particular, is feeling the benefit. 'I think he has been magnificent with his ball control and the way he has produced a really good performance and participated a lot in the match,' said Ramos. 'His condition worried us a lot at the beginning. You can see he's making a real effort and you can see the results now.'

Few Spurs players can have dedicated so much time to getting back in shape as King, however. The rapturous home applause following his warm-up showed how much he has been missed.

Spurs fans have been without their skipper for the entire season. Indeed, his troublesome knees have restricted him to just six appearances in 12 months.

But he was quickly into his stride, marshalling his backline, providing the kind of communication Tottenham's defence have been sadly lacking in his absence this season.

'We will have to see how he is before deciding if he can play again at the weekend,' said Ramos, who will clearly not be taking any risks.

Spurs went ahead when Fulham failed to deal with Huddlestone's free-kick. Pascal Chimbonda's knock-down was thundered against a post by Steed Malbranque and Keane calmly stroked the rebound past Antti Niemi.

When Fulham did make it into the Spurs area, King produced a sliding challenge on Clint Dempsey.

Spurs doubled their lead in firsthalf stoppage time. Malbranque bamboozled Chris Baird before feeding Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian teed-up Huddlestone, who lashed home a left-foot strike from outside the area. Lewington spared Baird more torment by Malbranque, bringing on Moritz Volz at the break.

Mindful that a goal early in the second half was their only route back, Fulham pushed Dempsey forward alongside Diomansy Kamara.

Their endeavour was rewarded when Hameur Bouazza crossed for Dempsey to bundle home after Robinson saved his initial effort.

But 66 seconds later Spurs restored their advantage when Jamie O'Hara's in-swinging cross was headed down by Berbatov and forced in by Keane. Fulham's comeback hopes were extinguished when Huddlestone overcame a poor first touch to beat Niemi from 20 yards.

He came close to grabbing a hattrick after Volz was sent off for his second bookable offence following a mistimed challenge on Malbranque. Huddlestone sent the resulting free-kick just wide.

But he did have time for one more contribution, setting up Defoe to complete the drubbing in the 90th minute. It was hardly the manner for caretaker manager Ray Lewington to stake his claim to take over from Lawrie Sanchez, while such displays are seemingly enough to scare off high profile targets Jol, Terry Venables and Jurgen Klinsmann.

'Everything that could go wrong went wrong,' said Lewington.

'We're realistic to know the performance wasn't good, so we've got to put it right.'

After such a wretched display, that is likely to be someone else's unenviable task.

Tottenham: Robinson, Chimbonda, Kaboul, King, Lee, Lennon, O'Hara, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Berbatov, Keane. Subs: Cerny, Boateng, Defoe, Taarabt, Bent.

Fulham: Niemi, Baird, Hughes, Bocanegra, Konchesky, Ki-Hyeon, Smertin, Davies, Murphy, Kamara, Dempsey. Subs: Warner, Volz, Healy, Kuqi, Bouazza.

Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)