A first-half own goal by Spurs striker Peter Crouch handed City victory, an irony not lost on the jubilant home fans who only a year ago watched him score the winner to give the London side a Champions League play-off spot at their team's expense.
The win gave Roberto Mancini's expensively assembled outfit their first crack at the Champions League and ended Tottenham's hopes of another season in Europe's elite club competition.
"I'm happy because this was our first target," said Mancini. "I think we deserve the Champions League because we were in the top between first and fourth position all season.
City could still finish higher than fourth to go straight into the Champions League group stage. If they end the season in fourth place, which would be their highest ever Premier League finish, they will face an early-season two-legged play-off.
With two games left, Mancini's side have 65 points, two behind third-placed Arsenal and five adrift of Chelsea, who are second. Their neighbours Manchester United (76 points) need just one point to secure a record 19th English league title.
Eastlands erupted on the final whistle to celebrate the feat, which provides a boost before Saturday's FA Cup final against Stoke City, where the Manchester side will be aiming to win their first trophy for 35 years.
"It will not be easy to prepare for the final in four days, to recover well, because we expended a lot of energy this evening," added Mancini whose team's victory also handed Stoke a place in the Europa League next season.
DOGGED DISPLAY
It was a dogged display by City against a Spurs side who had most of the ball but were punished for wasting chances like Luka Modric's excellent first-half opening when he shot just wide.
Since being taken over by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi in 2008, the world's richest club have spent more than 300 million pounds building a team.
Offering big wages and high transfer fees, City have lured in world class players, such as David Silva and Yaya Toure, and will now have even more carrots to offer as they possess the one thing they did not have before - Champions League football.
Tottenham's very slim hopes of qualifying for the European competition they lit up this season with some exciting football and dramatic comebacks on the way to the quarter-finals, were extinguished by Crouch's blunder after half an hour.
Following a short corner, City midfielder James Milner's low ball into the cluttered box was turned in by Tottenham's England striker who held his head in his hands in disgust.
The City fans barely noticed as they the did the 'Poznan' celebration, where they jump up and down with their arms around each other and backs to the pitch - a move learnt when they played Polish team Lech Poznan in this season's Europa League.
TEVEZ RETURNS
There was almost as much cheering when City captain Carlos Tevez, absent since tearing his hamstring nearly a
