England winger Aaron Lennon scored a fine solo strike for Spurs' winner in the 52nd minute, soon after they had grabbed an equalizer when Carlos Cuellar headed a corner into his own net at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland, buoyant after beating Manchester City 1-0 on Wednesday, took the lead against the run of play in the 40th through John O'Shea's close-range strike but the hosts were outplayed throughout.

Spurs' sixth win in their last eight league matches lifted them a point above Chelsea into third place, although their London rivals have two games in hand _ the first coming against Everton on Sunday.

Tottenham should never have been behind in the first place, after dominating a one-sided first half but failing to find a cutting edge.

After Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe wasted good early chances, Emmanuel Adebayor somehow managed to hit the bar from just two yards out on the half-hour mark after Defoe's shot was deflected into his path.

That explained Andre Villas-Boas' disgust when O'Shea, without a league goal in more than three years _ when he played for Manchester United _ sidefooted into an empty net from close range after Steven Fletcher's shot was parried by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

It was a rare opening for Sunderland, which was on the back foot throughout as the team looked to build on its win over City that pulled it clear of the relegation zone.

However, the hosts couldn't hold on and Spurs equalized when Kyle Walker's left-wing corner was headed into his own net by Cuellar in the 48th as he leapt for the ball with one of his teammates.

And four minutes later, Tottenham was celebrating again following a superb piece of individual skill by Lennon.

His attempted one-two with Sandro failed to come off but he pounced on a loose ball, rounded O'Shea and curled his shot in at the near post.

Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet made a fine save from Defoe, who should have scored from inside the six-yard box, and then from Adebayor when the Togolese striker went through one-on-one.