A single piece of brilliance from Nani and two Ryan Giggs penalties sent Manchester United back to the Premier League summit at Old Trafford.
When Ledley King headed Tottenham level with 20 minutes left, it seemed the Red Devils' title hopes would finally be snuffed out.
But, put through by Federico Macheda, Nani produced an incredible chipped finish to beat Heurelho Gomes before Giggs belted home his second penalty to seal another famous win.
Wayne Rooney was still struggling with the ankle injury he suffered against Bayern Munich and Ferguson decided he was not worth the risk, leaving Dimitar Berbatov up front on his own.
Rio Ferdinand was also ruled out, whilst Owen Hargreaves was named on the bench to end an absence that stretches back to September 2008 when he finally gave in to chronic knee problems.
Aaron Lennon has not been out for quite that long but the England winger was also included among the substitutes by Harry Redknapp after recovering from a groin injury he suffered in December.
Spurs showed two changes to the side that beat Chelsea last weekend, Wilson Palacios and Ledley King both recalled as the Londoners chased a famous hat-trick after previously overcoming Arsenal.
Ferguson confirmed Rooney had in fact suffered a groin injury in training on Thursday, although speculation the damage is enough to rule him out of United's remaining two games remained unconfirmed.
There was still a purpose about United's start, even if former Spurs star Dimitar Berbatov was unable to collect a pass that would have provided him with a shooting opportunity.
The deployment of Ryan Giggs as an orthodox forward confirmed Berbatov was not being relied on as a lone front-man, and as Tottenham pressed, Patrice Evra was forced to clear a Jermain Defoe cross that was heading for David Bentley.
World Cup hopeful Michael Dawson made a solid tackle on Berbatov, who raced through after collecting the loose ball following Paul Scholes' firm challenge on Palacios.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto stretched out a leg to clear as Nani tried to make ground down the right, then Gareth Bale robbed Antonio Valencia with an excellent tackle as the Ecuador man looked to make inroads on the right.
Palacios tripped Scholes on the edge of the area to give United a decent free-kick opportunity which Ryan Giggs wasted by curling his shot straight into the wall.
Dawson made a mess of trying to clear Valencia's low cross but keeper Heurelho Gomes was quickly off his line to collect the loose ball.
Although they were dominating territorially, United had still not forced Gomes into a save.
Bale went down holding his knee after a tangle of legs with Valencia but was able to continue after treatment.
Nani demanded a free-kick when he went down on the edge of the area but did not get one as Tottenham finally emerged from their shell, sensing their safety-first start was not entirely necessary.
Roman Pavlyuchenko had the game's first shot after 28 minutes but Edwin van der Sar saved easily.
It did trigger a response from United though and Ledley King made a brilliant block to deny Berbatov at the start of a flurry of activity around the visitors' goal.
Valencia ignored the possibility of a square pass to Berbatov and went for goal himself as United maintained their offensive.
The South American was unable to beat Gomes though and Berbatov and Patrice Evra tried their luck from distance without any success.
Nani was booked for chopping down Bentley in a very dangerous area but Bale's curling free-kick was too high to cause Van der Sar any bother.
Berbatov then had a couple of efforts at goal but as the interval arrived there was still no end to the impasse.
The sight of Evra on his knees being sick was a bit gruesome for a lunchtime audience, although the Frenchman was able to continue.
United maintained the pressure though and when Evra crossed to the far post, Berbatov headed the ball back for Darren Fletcher, who came agonisingly close to turning it home.
At the other end, Palacios emerged from a crowd of bodies to force Van der Sar into a full-length save with a low shot from 20 yards.
Defoe was replaced by Eidur Gudjohnsen as Redknapp made his first change 10 minutes into the second half.
The contest was starting to open up. Nani fired into the side-netting from an acute angle before Berbatov set Evra free with the back-heel that changed the course of the contest.
Assou-Ekotto knew he was in trouble and lunged in. He made no contact with the ball and Evra went down, giving Marriner the easiest task to award the spot-kick.
Less obvious was who would take it. Nani seemed to fancy it but Giggs assumed responsibility, keeping his nerve as he beat Gomes with a shot to the keeper's right which he was quite close to keeping out.
Within a minute, Michael Carrick had replaced a clearly injured Valencia as United's attacking options reduced still further.
This shortfall was emphasised by Spurs' introduction of Lennon for Bentley shortly afterwards.
Within seconds John O'Shea had replaced Evra as Spurs' pressure began to mount. And the equaliser was not long in coming either.
Ferguson would have been fuming at how easily it was conceded. King leapt above Carrick to meet Bale's corner with a firm header than Rafael would have cleared if he had remained by the post.
Instead he moved away and despite his acrobatics, the Brazilian was unable to keep it out.
Pavlyuchenko was replaced by Peter Crouch 14 minutes from time, with Tottenham looking the more likely winners.
How cruel the game can be. First Nani raced onto Federico Macheda's lay-off to beat Gomes before Giggs converted another spot-kick after the Portugal winger had been felled by Palacios.
As both incidents came in the final 10 minutes, it only increased United's legendary status as late winners. Chelsea now have to respond.
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