The North-East air seems to suit Tottenham. They followed their recent success at Sunderland with a splendid victory yesterday which provided their manager Glenn Hoddle with one of his most rewarding days as a Premiership manager.

Nobody should doubt that Hoddle relished outwitting Newcastle's manager Bobby Robson, the man who gave him 40 of his England caps, but Hoddle's chief satisfaction came from a Tottenham performance that offered further proof he is developing an assured Premiership team equipped to win games in the stylish manner favoured at White Hart Lane.

Watched by England number two Tord Grip, Teddy Sheringham and Darren Anderton were the architects of a one-touch approach which tormented Newcastle.

Tottenham throttled back after the interval, but there was no hint of a collapse similar to the one which cost them victory against Manchester United. Indeed, Newcastle's belated emergence as an attacking threat merely gave Grip the chance to assess Tottenham's central defenders Chris Perry, Ledley King and Dean Richards. He will have been impressed.

Tottenham's attractive balance of technique and tenacity was too powerful for Newcastle, whose prospects were diminished before the start by Robson's strategy.

Robson changed the team which won at Bolton last week by playing three central defenders and using another, Aaron Hughes, to concentrate on Gus Poyet, a regular scorer against Newcastle in recent times.

The plan had unravelled by the 20th minute when Hughes was AWOL as Poyet outfoxed Nolberto Solano inside the area to loop a header over Shay Given from Anderton's marvellous cross. Robson said: "We didn't give them the goal. It was a wonderful pass by Anderton, and Poyet showed he's brilliant in the air - I hate him." Anderton had earlier given Tottenham an eighth-minute lead when his second attempt at a cross was diverted past Given by Gary Speed.

Robson persisted with his system for more than an hour, which left Laurent Robert and Solano labouring down the flanks in wing-back roles which diminished their threat in the game's final 30 minutes.

Yet, even with hindsight, the Newcastle manager had no regrets. He said: "This was a different game to last week. It's not about systems, it's about players." However, Hoddle admitted that Robson's reshuffle had offered him encouragement before the match. "We felt it was a show of respect and that put us on the front foot," said Hoddle. "It surprised us because Newcastle got a good result last week.

"We thought they would try to stop Poyet, but we have intelligent players who give you a chance of opening up a team who use a man-marking system." Anderton thrived more than anybody from the extra space offered by Newcastle's obsession with Poyet. "I thought he was the pick of the bunch," said Hoddle.

With nobody capable of matching Anderton and Sheringham, Newcastle were sluggish and predictable until the final half-hour. Then Tottenham substitute Simon Davies twice cleared from under his own bar, while Craig Bellamy, Christian Bassedas and Nikos Dabizas went close in a frantic final five minutes.

NEWCASTLE: Given, O'Brien, Distin, Dabizas, Solano (Lua-Lua 75), Acuna (Bassedas 75), Speed, Hughes (Ameobi 80), Robert, Shearer, Bellamy. Subs Not Used: Elliott, Harper. Booked: Bellamy, Dabizas.

TOTTENHAM: Sullivan, Perry, King, Richards, Taricco (Davies 49), Anderton (Sherwood 89), Poyet, Freund, Ziege, Ferdinand (Rebrov 78), Sheringham. Subs Not Used: Keller, Thatcher. Booked: Freund. Goals: Anderton 8, Poyet 20.

Referee: A Wiley (Burnwood).