Manager Jose Mourinho hailed Harry Kane's "special" qualities after the striker's 150th Premier League goal earned Tottenham victory at West Brom.
A third successive league victory temporarily lifted Spurs to the top of the table on Sunday before Leicester replaced them after their 1-0 win against Wolves.
A game of few chances seemed destined to end goalless after Hugo Lloris had kept out Karlan Grant's second-half header and a flurry of Tottenham chances had come and gone without reward.
But, as has been the case so often in the past, Kane punished a minor lack of concentration to head home an 88th-minute winner.