Jan Vertonghen's quick-fire brace either side of the interval looked to have won the game for Spurs despite Luis Suarez's early goal but Stewart Downing capitalised on a defensive error before Gerrard won it from the spot.
Liverpool began the game brightly with Tottenham seemingly affected by their Thursday exertions in beating Inter Milan at White Hart Lane.
And just as Spurs began to take charge of the game they were on the receiving end of a move of real quality from the home side.
Philippe Coutinho showed great skill to twice put Jose Enrique away down the left before the full-back helped the ball on to Suarez who deftly slipped the ball under Hugo Lloris at the near post.
It had been harshly billed as the battle of the one-man teams between Suarez and Gareth Bale and the Uruguayan seemed determined to stamp his mark on proceedings, testing Lloris again soon after.
But his opponent in white was not to be outdone and after forcing an unconvincing save from Brad Jones early on, Bale played his part in Spurs' equaliser on the stroke of half-time.
The Welshman's inswinging cross from the right flank found the head of Vertonghen and the centre-back nodded the ball past Jones low into the far corner.
And the two men combined once more in the early stages of the second half to put Spurs ahead when Jamie Carragher was only able to head Bale's free-kick into Vertonghen's path.
The Belgium international did brilliantly to get his feet sorted out, striking the bouncing ball cleanly past Jones, and at that point there only looked to be one winner with Liverpool wilting.
But Kyle Walker's appalling back pass let the Reds back into it when Lloris could only kick the ball into Downing who stayed cool to fire the ball through the legs of Vertonghen on the line.
It was a goal from nowhere and the turnaround was complete when Jermain Defoe came up with another foolish back pass when trying to clear to give Suarez a chance in the left channel.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto bundled the forward to the ground and skipper Gerrard converted the spot-kick by sending Lloris the wrong way to claim the points and delight a buoyant Anfield.
Brendan Rodgers was proud of his players and told Sky Sports after the game: "I think our character in the game was outstanding.
"Earlier on in the season that game might have tipped against us but the longer we've worked together now the more cohesion we've shown to keep going."
Meanwhile, Andre Villas-Boas was quick to look forward after seeing his side lose their unbeaten run.
"We've suffered set-backs before. But we've jumped out of them and I think that it's a wonderful opportunity for us to put ourselves back on track."
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