Tottenham Hotspur conceded three goals in thirteen minutes as they capitulated to a shock 3-0 defeat to West Ham at White Hart Lane.

Andre Villas-Boas’ men showed only glimmers of their recent excellent form throughout most of the game and they were punished during a frenetic second half spell.

The loss drops Spurs down to sixth place, level on points with Manchester City.

Winston Reid put The Hammers in front when he slotted home inside the six-yard box on 65 minutes after his initial header ricochet off Nolan near the goal line.

The defender beat Vertonghen to Downing’s corner and was a touch fortunate when his initial effort, which was going wide of the left post, bounced straight back to him off the legs of Nolan.

The visitors then doubled their lead in the 73rd minute with another goal that lent itself to a huge slice of fortune from Ricardo Vaz Te.

The winger was played in behind on the left and, after his low shot was superbly blocked by Lloris, the ball rebound back into the West Ham forward’s legs and back past the despairing goalkeeper into the net.

There was no disputing West Ham’s third in the 78th minute though, created by Mo Diame and finished sublimely by Ravel Morrison during a deadly counter.

Diame lost two Spurs midfielders when he cleverly brought down an aerial clearance inside his own half before he knocked it past a third Tottenham player and played in Morrison just past the half way line.

The forward went on a surging run, evading Vertonghen before skipping past Dawson and delicately chipping the on-rushing Lloris.

The scoreline somewhat flattered West Ham but Villas-Boas will struggle to argue his side deserved much more from a game in which they created little.

Few would have predicted three Hammers goals following a first half stalemate in which Tottenham largely had the better chances.

Townsend hit a spectacular effort from 30 yards that just drifted wide and Paulinho sliced his half volley into the stands after controlling Townsend’s cross just inside the box.

Winston Reid went close for West Ham but failed to get enough on his glancing header on 34 minutes.

Paulinho again sliced his shot from inside the box, this time with his left foot, when he was played around the left back by Eriksen via a clever dummy from Sigurdsson.

West Ham almost scored against the run of play just before half time through a clever free-kick that outfoxed the Spurs defence.

Noble lined the ball up 25 yards out on the right side of the goal but, instead of shooting, flicked the ball over the wall to Nolan who lashed his volley just wide on the turn, leaving manager Sam Allardyce with his hands on his head on the touchline as the whistle blew.

Defoe was played in by Paulinho seconds into the second half but Jaaskelainen was quick off his line to block his poked effort.

And the Hammers keeper produced a magnificent reaction save when he tipped over Defoe’s lashed shot from the edge of the area shortly after.

West Ham came alive mid way through the second half though and were rewarded with Reid’s goal and then an unlikely second from Vaz Te.

Villas-Boas turned to his bench to claw back a result, bringing on Eric Lamela for Gylfi Sigurdsson and Roberto Soldado for Christian Eriksen but Allardyce’s team struck the hammer-blow third moments before Lewis Holtby could replace Kyle Naughton.

Spurs: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton (Holtby, 80), Paulinho, Dembele, Townsend, Eriksen (Soldado, 73), Sigurdsson (Lamela, 62), Defoe. Subs: Chiriches, Chadli, Friedel, Sandro.

West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Tomkins, Reid, Rat, Noble, Morrison, Diame, Nolan, Downing, Vaz Te. Subs: Jarvis, Maiga, Adrian, O'Brien, Collins, Cole, Petric.

Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire)