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A tried looking Spurs succumbed to an energetic second half performance
by Everton, whose 2-1 win stopped Tottenham closing the gap at the top
of the table, while pulled themselves to a mid-table position, close by
their struggling neighbours.
Harry Redknapp sent out much the same team
for the fourth time in a week and a bit and while they were equal
to the host in the first period, they looked leg heavy in the second and
it was a surprise that the manager did not make use of all three
substitutions, but then perhaps he feared an injury and held off using
the last reserve.
The first couple of minutes was end to
end and when the game reached the third minute, the ball was in the end
at the Spurs end. With the ball being played into one of Everton's
goal-shy strikers - Louis Saha - he was ten yards outside the penalty
box and not being closed down when he hit a shot that flew low past
Gomes and into the bottom corner of the net to put Everton 1-0 ahead
with just minutes gone. It was not the start that Spurs had
envisaged.
It did prompt a response within a few
minutes and when Crouch flocked the ball on to van der Vaart, Rafa hit a
first time shot from about 35 yards that had Howard worrying that it
might dip into his goal, but the ball went wide and the Toffees
goalkeeper escaped that particular chance. That was in the sixth
minute and a minute later the roles were reversed, as the Dutchman
crossed for Peter Crouch to win a header, but put it just wide of the
home goal.
However, the partnership came up trumps
in the 11th minute to create an equaliser. Luka Modric put Alan
Hutton away on the right wing and his cross picked out Crouch at the far
post, with his header back across goal perfectly placed for Rafael to
run in and meet it with his head to beat Howard to make it 1-1. it
was a deserve goal a this stage of the game and set the match up nicely,
as it was end to end stuff.
Just to prove that, Gomes was required to
pull a save out when Modric lost the ball to Marouane Fellaini and the
big Belgian hit a low shot that the Spurs keeper had to grab at full
length. For the following 15 minutes, both sides had chances as
they pushed forward, but the defending prevented any of them being clear
cut, so when Gomes elected to punch Arteta's 23rd minute corner out,
Saha knocked it to Jermaine Beckford, but his could not keep his shot on
target. Then in the 25th minute, Jermaine Jenas produced a timely
bock to stop Arteta's ball through to young Coleman ending with a shot
on goal. The home team made Gomes work again just after the half
hour, when Arteta was once more the architect of an Everton move and his
shot came off Modric, but Heurelho dived to hold onto it, even though he
had to adjust his position.
Modric had a shot that floated away from
goal before Coleman made ground on the right wing to cross to make a
good chance for Beckford, but the former Leeds man cold only put his
header too high from just inside the box. Three minutes before
half-time, Rafael almost put Tottenham ahead in spectacular style, as he
struck an overhead kick just over the bar after Crouch had once more
headed on a neat little dink to him from Michael Dawson. It was a
quick piece of thinking by the Dutch midfielder, but was just a little
too high.
Spurs were pressing to go into the
interval ahead, with Crouch having a goal chalked off for offside when
Gareth Bale had set him up after picking off a pass from Johnny Heitinga
and then in injury time, a long range van der Vaart free-kick nearly
caught Howard out and he was pleased to see it go over the bar.
Turning around level, Spurs were perhaps
looking to come back from a losing position again, in a season where
they have done so a number of times, but from the kick off, Everton
looked sharper and wanted to be first to the ball. With four
minutes gone, Seamus Coleman broke on the right, leaving Assou-Ekotto
trailing behind him, but the player chose to ignore the better option of
a pull back for Beckford and went for the shot, but Gomes stayed big at
his near post and took the shot in his midriff.
In the 53rd minute, a cross to Saha saw
the Frenchman strike a purposeful volley, but luckily for Spurs the
defence got a touch on it to take the sting out of it and divert it wide.
Ten minutes into the half, a cynical foul on Bale by Phil Neville took
the Welshman down and earned him a booking, but the damage had been done
before half-time, with this challenge just finishing the job, as Bale
soon left the field looking the worse for wear.
van der Vaart was the most likely source
of a Tottenham goal and he almost got one, but Howard denied his volley
when set up by Crouch's knock down just after the hour, but within a
minute, Saha reproduced his volley, from Coleman's cross, with Hutton
this time making the vital intervention by getting a touch on it that
deflected it wide, when it looked to be heading into the goal. The
Everton youngster was in the thick of the action and a few minutes
later, Gomes took his cross, but then did his best to hand Everton a
goal, when his throw out went straight back to Coleman and his returned
effort curled over from outside the box.
The pressure was building and perhaps
Spurs were fortunate to meet a side who lacked a real deadly striker,
was Saha had two chances in quick succession, but put one a yard wide
and then hit the second straight at the keeper without a great deal of
venom. However, with 72 minutes gone, Spurs almost won it twice
over. Firstly, Luka made good ground on the right into the penalty
area and pulled the ball into the near post area in the six yard box,
where Rafa met it, but had to try and dig it out from under his right
foot. He did that and got a decent enough contact on it, but
Howard sprawled along his line to make a point blank save to keep the
ball out. He had less confidence in his next save, this time from
Crouch, who took a pass from Jenas and he ran at the Everton defence,
showing some good footwork before hitting a dipping effort that Howard
just about managed to get a touch to, being surprised by the striker's
drive.
The failure to make either of those
chances pay cost Spurs. Two minutes later and Beckford did well to
play Saha in and his shot from outside the box was well pushed out by
Gomes, but Coleman came running in, with Jenas failing to pick up his
run and the Everton man headed into the net to make it 2-1.
The goal was probably deserved on the
balance of second half play, but it goes to show that if you don't take
your chances, it can be vital in these sort of games. There were a
number of changes with subs coming on at regular intervals which broke
up the play and there were few chances, as the game came to an end.
Yakubu was sent away on goal, but Dawson managed to get back and see him
wide, while Osman had a chance to wrap it up but his shot flew wide of
Gomes' goal, eating up a few more vital seconds.
When the final whistle went, it was a
limp Spurs team that trooped off. Everton had won for the first
time at home since the end of October and Spurs had lost for the first
time almost the same time. They couldn't keep coming from behind
to win and this was one game too far for a number of the players, who
will get a rest on Sunday, when Harry will play some of the squad
players against Charlton Athletic.
It was a chance for Spurs to steal a
march on their rivals, but instead they struggled to keep the pace with
a more determined Everton side. How this will affect their
position in the marathon that is the Premier League season, the next
game at home to Manchester United might reveal.
Charlie Mason |
Everton
(Away)
