Everton grabbed all three points against Tottenham at Goodison Park last night in a feisty, hard fought traditional game of football.
If ever a performance was needed by Everton it was now. With top goal scorer Tim Cahill away with the Australia Squad and a defeat to Stoke the previous week, the needed to assert themselves from the word go; and they did just that.
With Cahill absent, manager David Moyes left the fans guessing with who would replace him and if he would change the formation to 4-4-2. This he did as striker Jermaine Beckford came in for Cahill to partner Louis Saha in a two man attack. This strategy paid off as within the first 2 minutes Saha shot brilliantly from the edge of the box to send the ball past Gomez in the Tottenham goal and brought to end the goal drought for him and Everton strikers. But Tottenham fought back and it was the lively Van Der Vart who headed home from a Peter Crouch knock down to grab Tottenham’s equaliser. Both sides continued to push for a second with Jermaine Beckford looking to test Gomez on numerous occasions and Mikel Arteta dragged his shot just wide of the Spurs goal. Van Der Vart was looking to get his second of the game with a lob from 30 yards out just going over the bar, as well as his acrobatic effort sailing over. Tottenham did however have a goal disallowed. A wrongful back pass by Louis Saha gifted the ball to an unusually quiet Gareth Bale who squared it to Peter Crouch to steer home. However it was correctly given offside and both side went in at half time level.
After an entertaining first half both teams emerged from the dressing room looking for a winner and it was Everton who simply out played Tottenham during the second half. Phil Neville had kept Gareth Bale quiet all night and the Tottenham whiz kid was soon substituted through injury. Mikel Arteta put in a much needed good performance and he and the in-form Marouane Fellaini controlled the midfield. It was however, the young Seamus Coleman who stole the show. The young Irish right back has been playing out of position for Everton this season, taking command on the right side of midfield and certainly finding his feet there. He had Tottenham right back Assou-Ekotto after him all night as Coleman played his heart out for the boys in blue. He made several runs and sending in crosses, one of which fell to Louis Saha on the volley but it was deflected wide for an Everton corner. Coleman did find himself through on goal with only the keeper left to beat but shot straight Gomez. Tim Howard wasn’t called into action much for Everton in the second half but he was needed when he made two great saves from Vander Vart to keeps Everton in the game.
With the atmosphere inside Goodison electric, the crowd got behind their player and they were finally rewarded when at 75 minutes Saha shot at Gomez who save rebounded into the path of Coleman for him to head home a deserved lead for Everton. Tottenham pressed for an equaliser but it wasn’t to be as the Everton back four stood firm and held on to claim a much deserved three points.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Everton manager David Moyes heaped praise on his side performance, ‘‘I thought it was a really good team performance. The players were extra special tonight. We said to the players, be brave enough to get on the ball. It was a brilliant game, all action and we made lots of opportunities.’’
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