Christian Eriksen scored his sixth goal of the season, one minute from time, to earn Tottenham a 2-1 win at Swansea on Sunday to end a three match winless run and push the London club into the top half of the Premier League table.

Swansea’s leading scorer Wilfried Bony appeared to have earned his side a point when he cancelled out Harry Kane’s early goal.

However, careless defending from the home side allowed Eriksen to win the day with a firm strike that lifted Spurs into the top seven.

Having garnered only a single point from their previous two league games against Chelsea and Crystal Palace, the visitors were understandably keen to leave an early mark.

And they did exactly that when Kane rose to head home Eriksen’s fourth minute corner.

Swansea’s defeat at West Ham last Sunday had come at a price with goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski sent off in the second half.

However, they might have been level here, in the ninth minute when Wayne Routledge picked out leading scorer Bony. The Ivorian striker skipped outside Jan Vertonghen but was denied by a smart save from Hugo Lloris.

On his first league start since March, due to injury, Kyle Walker was booked after 14 minutes for deliberate handball. However, with Swansea struggling along the Spurs right, it was Walker and Eric Lamela who were causing the major problems.

A neat passing movement at the end of the first quarter saw Kane shoot just wide, whilst at the opposite end, the former Swansea left back Ben Davies produced a goal-saving tackle after Bony was sent into the penalty area by Montero’s slide rule delivery.

Tottenham certainly looked susceptible to the pace of Bony, who led Federico Fazio a merry dance in the 25th minute before seeing his shot blocked.

Vertonghen became the second Spurs player to see yellow – a careless two-footed challenge on Routledge earning the Belgian a second caution of the season.

Ryan Mason followed his teammate into the book for a crude challenge on Leon Britton, but Swansea manager Garry Monk was more confused by referee Robert Madley’s decision to ignore what appeared to be a blatant dive from Kane, five minutes before the break.

The young striker took the ball in his stride, but under no real pressure, duly went sprawling inside the 18 yard box. Monk had words with the fourth official and Mauricio Pochettino, who appeared to say that Kane had apparently slipped.

Swansea were level inside three minutes after the interval. Angel Rangel sent Routledge in to a position of promise and when the latter picked out Bony, the striker, at the second attempt, beat Lloris from eight yards.

It was no more than Swansea deserved, if only for their honest endeavour.

As for Spurs, it was another soft goal conceded. Davies allowed Routledge around the back and Fazio, once again, allowed Bony too much time and space in which to pick help himself to an eighth goal of the season.

Bony was unable to get enough on a header from Neil Taylor’s cross, minutes later, and when Fazio was caught napping by Gylfi Sigurdsson, the Icelandic midfielder was denied only by an unfortunate slip.

Nabil Bentaleb and Mason had lost control of the middle third with Ki, who was booked in the 52nd minute, and Britton becoming increasingly more influential. However, sensing the need to provide an even bigger threat, Monk replaced the tiring Britton with Jonjo Shelvey.

By now, Spurs were happy to take whatever came their way. Kane saw a shot from distance, deflected for a corner, and Rangel was forced to clear after another crisp counter attack from Eriksen.

Bony was denied twice more as Swansea increased the tempo but it was Eriksen who won it in the 89th minute when he beat Gerhard Tremmel from 20 yards.