Tottenham Hotspur rose from the basement of the Barclays Premier League yesterday as the forceful personality of Harry Redknapp continued to erase the apathy that had preceded him at the North London club. In a fortnight, he has transformed a team of no-hopers into a compact, combative unit.

Victory over Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium was Redknapp’s fourth win in five unbeaten matches since he slipped into the shoes of Juande Ramos, the former head coach, at White Hart Lane. It was not one of their better displays, in a match that finished with the nine men of City against the ten of Tottenham, but they did enough. Harry Houdini? Redknapp was almost embarrassed to claim the credit. “I’ve done nothing much,” he said. “I have just come in, got to know the lads, talked to them and encouraged them. They have the quality, it’s all about confidence.

“It was important to get off the bottom. Two weeks ago we were sitting on two points. If we’d not had this run, we would have been well adrift. Forget about the top four [clubs] and you can throw a blanket over the rest. I’ve tried to brighten the training ground up a bit and, when we have won, it’s like we’ve won the Cup.”

Tottenham have been revitalised, reborn almost, since Redknapp arrived. The former Portsmouth manager had inspired them to three wins and a draw - the 4-4 spectacular against Arsenal, their bitter rivals, at the Emirates Stadium - before the trip to a bitterly cold and rainswept City of Manchester Stadium.

Not that Redknapp had particularly fond memories of the place. On his previous visit, with Portsmouth in September, he could do little to stem the tide as City romped to a 6-0 victory. This time, the portents looked bad again as the home team claimed a sixteenth-minute lead.

Robinho started and finished the move, with Shaun Wright-Phillips also playing his part and Darius Vassell forcing Heurelho Gomes into a smothering save. Perhaps the Tottenham goalkeeper should have done better, but all he could do was parry the ball into the path of Robinho, who stroked in his eighth goal of the season.

Gelson Fernandes swiftly undid all City’s good work. First, he hacked at Luka Modric, picking up his first yellow card, then he tripped David Bentley, collecting his second. Tottenham’s dominance grew and Redknapp’s good fortune resurfaced when Richard Dunne miscontrolled a long pass from Modric and allowed Darren Bent to run through. Bent still had much to do, but, with his self-belief at an all-time high, he guided his shot past Joe Hart, the City goalkeeper. It was his tenth goal of the season and sixth since Ramos left the club.

If Dunne’s first mistake led to the equaliser, his second, similarly clumsy, led to his dismissal in the 83rd minute, when he bundled over Bent. As the Tottenham striker was alone and arrowing in on Hart, Mike Dean, the referee, had little option.

Dunne had gone close to atoning for his earlier slip-up, when Gomes made a decent save to keep out his far-post header, but the Bent double was not far away. Jermaine Jenas chested the ball down and tickled it forward, leaving Bent to angle his shot cleverly past Hart and in off a post.

City tried to recover, with Benjani Mwaruwari nodding wide from Javier Garrido’s cross. He should have done better. Even after Dunne’s departure, City gave it a go, too, with Robinho and Stephen Ireland forcing saves from Gomes.

The late exit of Benoît Assou-Ekotto, the Tottenham left back, for two cautions had little effect on the outcome. “There wasn’t a bad foul in the game,” Redknapp said. “You look at three red cards and you’d have thought it had been a right old kickup.”

Time ran out for City, Redknapp’s luck held and Tottenham moved off the foot of the table. After the chaos of two weeks ago, they have not only risen from the basement, they have also risen from the dead.

Manchester City (4-3-3): J Hart 7 - P Zabaleta 6, M Richards 4, R Dunne 4, J Garrido 4 - S Ireland 6, G Fernandes 4, S Wright-Phillips 7 - D Vassell 4, Benjani Mwaruwari 4, Robinho 5. Substitutes: D Hamann 5 (for Vassell, 31min). Not used: K Schmeichel, T Ben-Haim, N Onuoha, Elano, Jô, C Evans. Next: Hull City (a).

Tottenham Hotspur (4-1-4-1): H Gomes 7 - V Corluka 5, J Woodgate 5, L King 5, B Assou-Ekotto 5 - D Zokora 6 - D Bentley 6, J Jenas 6, T Huddlestone 6, L Modric 6 - D Bent 8. Substitutes: A Lennon (for Modric, 71min). Not used: C Sánchez, A Hutton, F Campbell, R Pavlyuchenko, M Dawson, J O’Hara. Next: Fulham (a).