Michael Carrick delivered the blow to Sunderland - and then claimed Spurs can go the distance in their fight for a Champions League place, reported The Daily Mirror.
Carrick described the 3-2 win against the Black Cats at White Hart Lane on Saturday as ‘a bit of a strange’ encounter: "In the first half we had so much of the ball and looked comfortable before a couple of things went their way. They are fighting for their lives and were not going to give up easily, so it was a tough game for us.
"We need to keep going now because teams like Arsenal will bounce back. We've got a good run of games up to Christmas and this time last year we put a good run together - if we can repeat that then it will give us a great boost going into the New Year."
It was Carrick's first goal for Tottenham since his move from West Ham to White Hart Lane 18 months ago.
"The manager has asked all the midfielders to improve on their goalscoring but not scoring wasn’t something I had thought about or been concerned about, but it’s good to get off the mark," he added.