West Ham United were beaten in the final seconds of a seven-goal thriller against Tottenham Hotspur at Upton Park, despite a battling performance.
Hammers set their stall out early as Mark Noble let fly with a powerful shot in the first minute but Paul Robinson dived to palm the effort clear. The young midfielder picked up a yellow card minutes later after sliding in to Hossam Ghaly. There was yet more injury woe for recent signing Matty Upson as he pulled up with an injured calf after just ten minutes and had to be replaced by Calum Davenport.
Rob Green produced two excellent saves in quick succession as Dimitar Berbatov burst into the box twice in two minutes and fired the ball at goal.
Hammers took the lead after quarter of an hour as Tevez knocked the ball down for Noble to drill it into the back of the net and claim his first ever Premiership goal.
Green made two more fantastic saves as the Hammers defence had a shaky spell. Matthew Etherington's misplaced pass fell to Davenport but his attempted clearance only traveled as far as Jermain Defoe, whose attempted shot was almost hooked into his own net by Lee Bowyer. Green stretched to push the ball away but Berbatov fired it back in and the keeper was forced to make another diving save.
Hammers nearly doubled their lead after 35 minutes as Robinson dropped Bowyer's effort at the near post, but Anton Ferdinand scuffed the follow-up. The ball fell to Marlon Harewood on his left foot and the striker shot wide of the target.
With just over five minutes to go before half-time, Tevez was fouled by Michael Dawson just outside the penalty area and Pascal Chimbonda was booked for dissent as the Spurs wall lined up. Tevez struck the ball perfectly beyond Robinson's outstretched fingertips to double the Hammers' lead and claim his first Premiership goal. The Argentine forward then ripped his shirt off and dived into the crowd to celebrate, only to be booked when he re-emerged.
With the Hammers 2-0 up at half-time Martin Jol brought Tom Huddlestone on for Ghaly as Spurs pushed forward from the re-start. Green made another great save to deny Jermaine Jenas, but the midfielder was ruled offside anyway.
In the 50th minute Jermain Defoe pulled a goal back for the visitors from the penalty spot after Bowyer brought Aaron Lennon down in the box.
Bowyer was cautioned for the foul and Lucas Neill joined him in the book minutes later after he was judged to have upended Lennon in the Hammers' half.
Spurs made another change in the 56th minute, replacing Jenas with Paul Stalteri and Paul Konchesky was booked for a foul on Pascal Chimbonda.
Tainio made it 2-2 in the 61st minute, latching onto a flick-on from Lennon to drill the ball past Green.
Chimbonda then made a late lunge at Nigel Quashie on the halfway line, but didn't receive a second caution.
Matthew Etherington had the ball in the net for the Hammers in the 70th minute but the linesman flagged for offside.
Quashie was cautioned for a foul on Tainio in the centre-circle with fifteen minutes left to play. Neill then played Quashie through, thanks to a neat dummy from Bowyer, but the midfielder injured himself as he stretched to shoot and had to be replaced by Kepa Blanco, whose first touch of the ball was a well-angled header from Tevez's corner which travelled just wide of the mark.
Alan Curbishley made his final substitution in the 73rd minute as Etherington made way for Bobby Zamora and the striker scored with his first touch to make it 3-2, heading in Tevez's free-kick after Kepa was fouled by Anthony Gardner.
Chimbonda then made way for Adel Taarabt and Spurs were quickly awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box for a push by Ferdinand on Lennon. Berbatov equalised from the free-kick with a minute left on the clock.
Tevez was unlucky not to put the Hammers in front again after finding space to shoot in the box but his effort travelled off target.
Hammers had another free-kick after Gardner's foul on Kepa and the ball deflected out for a corner. In the 94th minute Zamora lost possession on the edge of the Spurs box and the visitors broke away to score the winner. Green managed to save Defoe's shot but Stalteri stuck in the rebound.