Football Update: EPL News- Everton Levels With Spurs At White Hart Lane
Once again, it was Rafael van der Vaart who scored the goal to save one point for his side facing Everton at White Hart Lane. It was another comeback game for Tottenham Hotspurs, but despite having chances to put the game to bed, they failed to gather all
three points.
Spurs were coming back from Inter Milan, after a tough encounter in the Champions League. Spurs went four goals down, but they staged a comeback in second half, led solely by Gareth Bale. However, they fell short of one goal, losing all three points at San
Siro. That game definitely had its impact on Spurs players, who seem a little tired after all the travelling.
Everton were flying high at the moment, as they were able to overcome their rivals, Liverpool, in local derby. That result also saw them coming out of the relegation zone, which was a big boost to the morale David Moyes squad. Nevertheless, it promised to
be a good match between both sides, both having a reputation of being physically strong and technically sound teams.
Harry Redknapp, the manager of Spurs, had almost all options available in his attack. Luka Modric was given the captaincy in the absence of Tom Huddlestone and Ledley King. Apart from him, Peter Crouch, Van der Vaart, Aaron Lennon and Bale were present in
the attack. Younes Kaboul was fit again for Spurs, as he started in the back as well. Mikel Arteta, who was in a fine form in recent times, was also missing the game for Everton.
Everton gave a tough time to their opposition from the very start of the match. There was trouble at the back for Spurs, who were under threat from Everton’s counter attacks. Apart from that, there were shots from Tim Cahill, for Everton, and Luka Modric,
for Spurs. However, the deadlock stayed until the 17th minutes, when Leighton Baines scored from an incredible free-kick.
Yakubu was fouled by Kaboul on the edge of penalty area, which resulted in a free-kick for Everton. Baines stepped up to take the kick, and curled it into the top corner. Spurs goal-keeper, Gomes, could do little about a precisely placed shot from Everton’s
full back.
However, Tottenham levelled the game within no time, after taking an advantage of a mistake by Tim Howard, Everton’s goal-keeper. It was Alan Hutton’s cross, which was not cleared by Howard, giving Crouch an opportunity to divert it towards the goal. Unfortunately,
for Everton, Van der Vaart was roaming there waiting for an opportunity, which was provided to him. The Dutch midfielder made no mistake as he fired the ball over goal-line, for his fifth goal in his fifth match of the league.
After the equaliser, Luka Modric, the captain, and Peter Crouch both had the chance to take the lead. However, Modric found it hard to hit the target, while Crouch got a penalty turned down by the referee. Also, Baines had another opportunity to score from
a free-kick, but he failed to do so as well.
Peter Crouch was having the worst of his days, as he missed opportunities one after another. There were many opportunities when Crouch had won the headers in the box, from Everton’s defender, but the English striker could not take advantage of any moment.
Gareth Bale, Tottenham hero from last week, also missed a couple of chances, but he still looked in great touch.
Substitute, Roman Pavlyuchenko, and Van der Vaart came close to scoring in closing minutes of the match, but they could not hit the ball across Gomes. For Everton, Tim Cahill and Steven Pienaar had the opportunity to steal the win, but they also failed to
produce a winner. In the end, the match ended with both sides putting a single point in the bag.
Tottenham has moved into third position, as they wait for the results of Arsenal Vs Manchester City match, as well as Manchester United’s fixture. The only plus point for Harry Redknapp was that his side showed their resilience once again, as they fought
back from a goal down to save a point in the match.
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