Onward Chistian Eriksen and the seasonal revival of Tottenham's creative Dane offers winter hope to Mauricio Pochettino.
Eriksen scored twice against Hull and came agonisingly close to a first Spurs hat-trick when his free-kick was touched against a post by goalkeeper David Marshall and dropped for Victor Wanyama to get the third of the night.
He has scored five in his last four Premier League games after suffering a subdued start to the campaign and Spurs needed his influence against Hull because, despite the comfortable margin of victory, they are still not at their most fluent.
Anxiety was beginning to take hold at White Hart Lane when he tapped in his second of the night at the back-post from a cross by Kyle Walker.