Successive wins against Aston Villa and Norwich City had lifted Felix Magath's men to within touching distance of safety prior to this weekend, but an inability to defend set-pieces proved costly as Fulham failed to make it three victories in a row.
Tottenham's first and third goals arrived from Christian Eriksen free-kicks, with Paulinho and Younes Kaboul converting from close range on each occasion.
Paulinho's 35th-minute opener was cancelled out by Steve Sidwell almost immediately.
However, Harry Kane registered his third goal in as many games to restore the home side's advantage early in the second half before Kaboul capitalised on more poor defending just after the hour mark.
Tim Sherwood, who admitted prior to the game that he "could not tell you the best 11 players at Tottenham", selected Ezekiel Fryers in place of Vlad Chiriches at centre-half, yet there was no place for Sandro, with the midfielder taking to Twitter to confirm he was not injured.
The visitors started brightly, with Hugo Rodallega – scorer of the winning goals against Villa and Norwich – a lively presence in attack.
However, after David Stockdale had pulled off a fine save at the other end – tipping a volley from Aaron Lennon on to his left-hand post, it was Tottenham who took the lead.
Eriksen's delightful free-kick from the right was allowed to run all the way through to Paulinho, leaving the Brazilian with the simplest of finishes from barely two yards.
Fulham were soon left to rue the missed opportunity as John Heitinga brought down Danny Rose and Kaboul got on the end of Eriksen's resulting free-kick.
Eriksen was then penalised for handball to provide Sidwell with an opportunity from the spot, but Lloris dived to his right to maintain Tottenham's two-goal cushion.
