Defoe makes a timely point to Sven

Eriksson famously chose to take Theo Walcott rather than Defoe to Germany - and Defoe gained some sort of revenge at White Hart Lane.

Rolando Bianchi cancelled out Pascal Chimbonda's controversial opener before Defoe grabbed the winner with seven minutes left, just after Stephen Ireland was given a straight red card for a lunge at Young-Pyo Lee.

To rub salt in the wound, City knew they would have been back in the top four of the Barclays Premier League with a point. But they were without the influence of Elano, the Brazil playmaker having failed to recover from a hamstring complaint, so their creativity came from Martin Petrov on the left wing.

At the other end, Darren Bent was wasteful. Berbatov's silky touches sent Bent through on goal in the ninth minute but Andreas Isaksson rushed out to save with his feet.

Javier Garrido picked up a booking for tripping Aaron Lennon, and from the resulting attack Berbatov was on the floor but managed to clip the ball through to Bent. He snatched at his shot with Jermaine Jenas waiting with an open goal in front of him.

The opener came on the stroke of half-time, with Berbatov getting fouled on the touchline by a combination of Gelson Fernandes and Vedran Corluka. Jenas drilled the corner, Berbatov flicked and Chimbonda angered City with the finish off his arm - he also appeared to be standing in an offside position.

Eriksson responded by bringing on Bianchi for Kelvin Etuhu just before the hour mark, with the substitute making an instant impact. Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson could do nothing about Bianchi's equaliser, the Italian striker rising to thump home a header from Petrov's corner.

City were putting Spurs under intense pressure and Lee had to make a last-ditch clearance from another Petrov cross. Petrov also fizzed a long-range effort just wide. The game turned when Ireland was given his straight red card by Mark Halsey for a slide on Lee.

Defoe grabbed the winner from the free-kick, with Malbranque curling a cross off the post and the substitute smashing the rebound between Micah Richards' legs.