Premier League Match Report: Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 vs. Everton
The Premier League encounter between Tottenham Hotspur and Everton finished at a 1-1 stalemate at White Hart Lane.
Summer signing Rafael van der Vaart rescued a point for the Spurs, who went a goal down thanks to a brilliantly taken free kick from Everton’s Leighton Baines in the 17th minute. The London team was unable to mount a
comeback partly because of some resolute Everton defending and zonal marking.
The game kicked off 48 hours after Tottenham’s European trip to Milan but the “European Hangover” was never visible in the team.
Everton looked as if they were going to lack some creativity in the centre of the park with the absence of Mikel Arteta through injury while Kaboul, who was a doubt for this clash, started the game in defence for the Spurs. Spurs
midfielder Wilson Palacios was making his 1st start for Tottenham in 6 weeks and was rightly booked for a foul on Yakubu as Everton looked to stretch their opponents on the counter.
Tim Cahill’s tame long range drive and Luka Modric’s effort were the only efforts on goal before Leighton Baines opened the scoring.
Younes Kaboul fouled Yakubu outside the box and Baines stepped up to take the free-kick. He curled a delightful free-kick into the top corner to give Everton the lead in the 17th minute.
But only 3 minutes later, Van der Vaart brought his team level when Alan Hutton’s swerving cross was flapped by Howard who missed it and Crouch nodded his header towards the Dutchman who scored one of the easiest goals of his career
with less than a yard out.
Modric, captain for the day in the absence of Ledley King, fired from 20 yards out while Crouch’s weak header was easily dealt by Tim Howard.
In the 2nd half, the Spurs brought on Brazilian Sandro for Palacios who was on a yellow card. Sandro almost laid a goal in the 52nd minute for Gareth Bale whose header was cleared by Phil Jagielka. Moments
later, Seamus Coleman became Everton’s first player to be booked when he brought down Lennon.
Crouch nearly deflected a John Heitinga free–kick into his own net. Everton were forced to bring on Louis Saha for a hobbling Yakubu in the 63rd minute.
Both sides tried getting in front as both defences seemed resolute enough to not to concede another goal. Cahill put in a hard working shift for the Everton side as he marked Van der Vaart throughout the game and kept him as far
away from the goal as possible. The Dutchman was clearly frustrated at not being able to stamp his authority in the game; he received a yellow card for over-doing his protestations with the linesman after the referee awarded a goal kick when the replays clearly
showed that Tim Cahill had the last touch before the ball ran out of play.
Roman Pavlyuchenko came in for Aaron Lennon in the 69th minute and saw his finish blocked by Sylvain Distin and then Sandro was given a yellow card for fouling Saha when the Frenchman tried doing the same at the opposite
end.
Tony Hibbert, who signed a contract extension this week, came on for Dutchman John Heitinga in the 78th minute minutes before Tottenham made a change of their own, bringing ex-Leeds United forward Jermaine Beckford for
Seamus Coleman in the 84th minute.
With just two minutes left, Van der Vaart had a great chance to snatch all three points but his shot was blocked by Distin and Hibbert.
Everton’s next game in the Premier League would be at home against Stoke City while Tottenham travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. With the point, Everton are now out of the relegation zone no matter what the results
of the next matches (involving teams in the relegation zone) turn out to be.
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