With both sides low on confidence ahead of kick-off, it wasn’t just points up for grabs at the PreZero Arena.
A fast start from Spurs saw James Maddison put the visitors into an early lead, plucking Pedro Porro’s long ball out of the air with a delicate first touch to leave him with a clear sight of goal, which he duly made the most of.
The provider should have turned goalscorer when Porro fired wide from a promising position, but soon after Hoffenheim were denied a legitimate penalty claim for handball, Tottenham raced up the other end and doubled their lead through a deflected Son Heung-min effort.
The hosts gradually grew into the contest, with European debutant Brandon Austin denying Tom Bischof and Max Moerstedt before Oliver Baumann produced an important save to stop Lucas Bergvall on the stroke of half-time.
Given their precarious position in the Europa League table, Die Kraichgauer needed a second-half response, and they almost had one inside the opening 10 minutes of the restart as Andrej Kramaric’s looping header bounced off the crossbar.
The momentum remained with the hosts, who saw Bischof’s dinked effort drop just wide before a penalty was awarded for an overzealous attempt at the ball from Austin.
However, with the spot-kick about to be taken, referee Morten Krogh made his way over to the pitchside monitor to reverse the decision as Austin had made contact with the ball first.
That proved to be only a temporary reprieve for Tottenham, who conceded moments later from a counterattack as Anton Stach turned in a low cross.
It threatened to be an uncomfortable finale for Tottenham, but with 77 minutes on the clock, they capitalised on a turnover of possession when Son bagged his second of the game, arrowing a shot into the bottom corner.
That should have wrapped things up, however, a late header from David Mokwa made Ange Postecoglou sweat as Spurs eventually saw out victory.
Despite picking up just one win in 10 Premier League matches (D2, L7), Spurs are shaping up nicely in the UEL, knowing a point against IF Elfsborg in their final league phase encounter would seal progression to the last 16.
Meanwhile, just one win in seven UEL games (D3, L3) leaves Hoffenheim hanging onto their European campaign, one point outside the play-off spots with progression reliant on other results.