Les Ferdinand picked the perfect opponents against whom to score his first goal for West Ham, and Michael Carrick chipped in with his third of the season to keep alive the Hammers' hopes of avoiding relegation.

Former England striker Ferdinand scored 33 goals in 118 League appearances for Spurs before being frozen out this season by the arrival at White Hart Lane of Robbie Keane.

He moved across town to Upton Park shortly before the transfer window closed in January in a bid to help West Ham beat the drop.

This was his fifth start since his move and despite taking a bang on the head in the early stages he pounced after 31 minutes to score his first goal for the club, thanks to some good work from strike partner Jermain Defoe and a little help from Spurs goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

Keller was at fault again, along with Ledley King, as Spurs gifted West Ham a second goal just 87 seconds into the second half which took them level on points with fourth from bottom Bolton.

West Ham made the brighter start and after five minutes Lee Bowyer almost grabbed his first goal for West Ham. Ferdinand nodded the ball into the path of Defoe, and his shot was smothered by Keller. The rebound fell for Bowyer, but he had to stretch to hit it, and the Spurs goalkeeper again did well to block the shot.

Keller did even better after seven minutes when Defoe's pace took him in behind Dean Richards and King and hit a fierce shot from just inside the box. This time the American dived to his right to turn the ball away and keep his team on level terms.

There was a worrying moment for both sides after 13 minutes as Ferdinand and Richards both went down with head injuries.

The pair collided as they dived for a cross from the right, which came off the Spurs defender for a corner, and fortunately both men were able to continue after treatment.

Ferdinand went off further treatment after 19 minutes on what appeared to be an eye injury, although again he was soon able to continue.

Bowyer was denied again after 23 minutes when he beat the offside trap and looked destined to score from 15 yards, but Keller came to Spurs' rescue again by turning the shot on to his right-hand post.

West Ham deserved a goal and it arrived eight minutes later courtesy of former Spurs hero Ferdinand.

Defoe did the good work by forcing Richards and King on to the backfoot before sliding the ball to his right to find Ferdinand on the edge of the box.

The former England striker took a step forward before drilling a low shot which Keller was guilty of allowing to squirm under his body and into the net - giving his former team-mate his first goal since his move across town during the transfer window.

It was the second season running that Ferdinand was on the scoresheet in this fixture, as he scored the winner for Spurs when they beat the Hammers 1-0.

Spurs somehow failed to equalise after 40 minutes. Anderton delivered a dangerous ball from the left which sailed over James to the far post. Sheringham met it with a downwards diving header but the ball ran across the face of the goal with Davies failing to divert it into the unguarded net.

West Ham had not led by two goals in a game this season, but that changed inside two minutes of the restart.

Carrick crossed from the right and King sliced the ball into the air inside his own six yard box. Keller hesitated before finally coming out to claim the loose ball, but he fumbled it and when it came down it was Carrick who had arrived to steer it into the unguarded net for his third goal of the season.

It might have been three after 51 minutes when Pearce won a header at the far post but this time Keller scrambled the ball away from under his bar.

West Ham had won only two of their previous 18 Premiership games and gone 21 games without a clean sheet, but were rarely in trouble against a Spurs side looking badly out of sorts and sorely missing Republic or Ireland striker Keane, who has a knee injury.

Goalkeeper David James was hardly tested, and when the final whistle came the buoyant home fans had fresh belief that their team may yet pull off a great escape - especially as this was their first league win of the season without skipper Paolo Di Canio in the team.

Teams

West Ham: James, Johnson, Repka, Pearce, Brevett, Sinclair, Bowyer, Carrick, Cole, Les Ferdinand (Hutchison 62), Defoe.

Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Breen, Moncur, Cisse.

Booked: Johnson, Bowyer, Cole.

Goals: Les Ferdinand 31, Carrick 47.

Tottenham: Keller, Bunjevcevic (Thatcher 45), King, Richards, Carr, Davies, Anderton, Etherington (Acimovic 76), Taricco, Sheringham, Doherty (Freund 66).

Subs Not Used: Sullivan, Toda.

Booked: Taricco, Davies.

Att: 35,049

Ref: N Barry (N Lincolnshire).