Harry “Houdini” Redknapp may have purged many of the ills of the reign of Juande Ramos in a three-week whirl of victories and rip-roaring entertainment at the North London club. For the new Tottenham Hotspur manager, though, the hard work, the escape from relegation, has to start now.

How Redknapp deals with his first defeat in seven matches, how his players respond to their first reality check, could shape the rest of Tottenham’s season. At Craven Cottage on Saturday, a powerful, purposeful and pumped-up Fulham side provided the harsh wake-up call.

Three wins in their past four matches have taken Fulham from sixteenth place in the Barclays Premier League into the top ten, a reward for the ceaseless work ethic that Roy Hodgson, the manager, has instilled in his players. “This club doesn’t want to be in the bottom half [of the table],” Paul Konchesky, the left back, said. “And we don’t deserve to be.”

Fulham deserved the victory. Tottenham may have arrived on a wave of optimism but their spirits sank in the face of the pugnacious midfield pairing of Jimmy Bullard and Danny Murphy. Good fortune, of which Redknapp has had his fair share, deserted him when Heurelho Gomes, the erratic Brazilian goalkeeper, fumbled in a cross by Simon Davies that had deflected off Jonathan Woodgate.

Shot-stopping and reflex saves are not a problem for “The Octopus”, as he is known, as he proved with agile leaps to keep out sizzling efforts from Clint Dempsey and, twice, Bullard. It is Gomes’s judgment at set-pieces that is questionable, as he showed when standing leaden-footed as Andrew Johnson prodded in a close-range rebound.

Tottenham rallied valiantly – a trait of the new Redknapp regime – but gained consolation only from a low drive from Fraizer Campbell. Though the “Houdini” effect had finally failed, it is likely to be just a blip. The Great Escape is still on.

Fulham (4-4-2): M Schwarzer 6 – J Pantsil 6, A Hughes 7, B Hangeland 9, P Konchesky 6 – C Dempsey 7 (sub: Z Gera, 88min), D Murphy 6, J Bullard 6 (sub: L Andreasen, 90), S Davies 5 – R Zamora 6, A Johnson 6. Substitutes not used: P Zuberbühler, E Nevland, J Gray, T Kallio, C Baird. Booked: Zamora. Next: Liverpool (a).

Tottenham Hotspur (4-5-1): H Gomes 5 – V Corluka 5, J Woodgate 5, L King 5, G Bale 3 – D Bentley 5, J Jenas 6, T Huddlestone 5 (sub: R Pavlyuchenko, 46 5), D Zokora 5, L Modric 4 (sub: A Lennon, 46 6) – D Bent 4 (sub: F Campbell, 71 6). Substitutes not used: C Sánchez, A Hutton, M Dawson, B Assou-Ekotto. Next: Blackburn Rovers (h).

Referee A Wiley Attendance 25,139