Tottenham Hotspur received a rude awakening from their Carling Cup celebrations when they were thrashed 4-1 by Birmingham City in their Premiership clash on Saturday.

Spurs players looked hung over by the celebrations as Mikael Forssell slammed home a brilliant hat trick while Sebastian Larsson added the other before Jermaine Jenas got one back in the final minute of the match as Birmingham emerged comfortable victors and received a huge boost in their battle to avoid relegation from top flight football.

Birmingham were on the attack right from the kick off and took a deserved lead in the 7th minute when James McFadden found Forssell with a square ball and the striker made no mistake from close range. Tottenham tried to hit back with Jamie O'Hara and Dimitar Berbatov coming close to restoring parity but Maik Taylor showed safe hands to keep his side in the lead by the end of the first half.

Tottenham tried to stage a comeback in the second half but it was Birmingham who doubled the lead in the 55th minute when Larsson curled the ball over the wall to score from a free kick though Robinson's positioning was far from perfect.

Spurs were finding it tough to create any chances and Birmingham put the result beyond doubt four minutes later through a defensive error at the back. Pascal Chimbonda almost scored an own goal, volleying it towards the target and though Robinson managed to keep the ball out, it fell straight to Forssell who was left with a simple finish.

Forssell completed his hat trick nine minutes from full time latching on to McFadden's through ball before slotting it past Robinson. Jermaine Jenas grabbed one back for Spurs in the final minute of the game but it was too little too late as they slumped to their first defeat in five matches.