Premier League: Tottenham v Everton full time report
Tottenham 1 Everton 1
Tottenham had to be content with a point against Everton, after Rafael van der Vaart struck his fifth goal in four White Hart Lane appearances.
Dutchman van der Vaart smashed home a Peter Crouch knockdown from less than a yard out following Tim Howard’s failure to deal with a cross, earning Spurs an equaliser just three minutes after Everton’s Leighton Baines had curled home a delightful free kick to put the visitors ahead.
Both goals arrived in the opening 20 minutes, and the remainder of the match was all about endeavour but few clear chances, although Crouch headed straight at Howard shortly before the break.
Tim Cahill drove narrowly wide from distance for Everton, while Crouch could have done better with a weak effort he struck from the edge of the box.
Both clubs went into the clash having won their previous two Premier League matches, and so something had give in the lunchtime north London rain.
After a low key start, Cahill tested Spurs ‘keeper Heurelho Gomes from distance. The Brazilian – who had already been on the pitch for longer than he managed before his red card against Inter Milan in the Champions League in midweek – saved comfortably.
That sending off required Tottenham’s Luka Modrić to leave the San Siro stage early, but he was back and captaining his side here, and the Croatian soon saw an effort well saved by Howard, before he just failed to latch on to an exquisite van der Vaart flick in the penalty area. A more telling moment of quality was soon to come at the other end though.
With Everton awarded a free kick on the edge of the box, both Steven Pienaar and Baines debated who was to take it, until the left back stepped up and curled a precise effort over the wall and into the top corner to give the Blues the lead. They weren’t to hold onto it for long.
Just three minutes later, nobody closed down Alan Hutton as the Spurs right back shaped to cross from the left, and after Howard completely missed the ball at the back post, it struck Crouch before falling perfectly for van der Vaart to smash home from underneath the crossbar. After taking the lead through such a fine strike, Everton boss David Moyes would have been livid with his side’s defending.
Modrić soon drove wide from distance as Spurs looked to take the initiative, but they were unable to breach the Blues again before the break, with Crouch heading a chance straight at Howard.
A scrappy, tight opening to the second half saw both sides struggle to create chances, but Pienaar drove an effort wide for Everton – who now had Louis Saha upfront in place of the ineffectual Yakubu.
It was Spurs who were pressing more for the winner though, and Crouch could only hit a weak left footed effort straight at Howard when he found an opening, before an Everton break resulted in Cahill shooting narrowly wide from the edge of the area.
Roman Pavlyuchenko was brought on by boss Harry Redknapp as the hosts pushed for a winner, and the Russian soon saw an effort deflected wide off Everton’s Sylvain Distin, before both van der Vaart and Sandro saw efforts blocked as Spurs pushed for what would have been an undeserved winner.
They didn’t get it, despite a late Gareth Bale effort, but both sides will no doubt be left happy with a point that prolongs their unbeaten runs.
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