Everton 0-3 Tottenham: Spurs Cruise as Harry Kane Scores Double to Down Toffees at Goodison

Tottenham recorded their first win since the opening day of the season on Saturday afternoon at Goodison.

Mauricio Pochettino emerged comfortable winners from the 3-0 triumph in a match which could have easily seen a much larger margin. Spurs were always in control against out-of-sorts Everton who will have Jordan Pickford to thank for not conceding at least three more goals.

Team News & Form Guide

Everton manager Ronald Koeman decided to include Wayne Rooney in his starting line-up, despite the former Manchester United star’s drink driving charge and controversy during the international break. The hosts were without several first-team players for the Saturday’s match, however, with Barkley, Bolasie, Coleman, McCarthy and Mori all unavailable through respective injuries.

Tottenham also struggled with injuries and had to do without Lamela, N’Koiudou, Rose and Wanyama, whereas the deadline day additions Llorente and Aurier waited for their chance from the bench.

Spurs were hoping to extend their positive run of results at Everton which saw them go unbeaten in their last 4 trips to Goodison. Not only did Spurs remain unbeaten, though, but they also ended up recording a clean-cut victory over indisposed Toffees.

Here is our in-depth match report:

First Half

Everton were off to a solid start to the match at the Goodison, dominating the proceedings in the opening stages but failing to pose a more serious threat and put Tottenham in danger.

As game went by, the Spurs started to take matters into their hands. Two minutes less than a half-hour mark the visitors opened the scoring through Harry Kane, who bagged his 100^th Tottenham goal after perfectly collecting a pass from Kieran Trippier with a fantastic long-range strike.

It took Spurs less than fifteen minutes to double the lead through Christian Eriksen who picked up a rebound inside the box to calmly slot the ball into the right side of the goal.

Tottenham were cruising against the toothless Everton during the first half of the game and could have opened a more tangible lead hadn’t it been for Jordan Pickford who displayed nice goalkeeping skills on a number of occasions to deny the visiting side.

Koeman will not have been too pleased with how his team reacted to going 2-0 down. The Toffees struggled defensively and lacked organization in their backline which Everton boss hoped would change after the interval.  

Second Half

The hosts’ hopes were short-lived, however, as Tottenham continued to press hard from the second-half whistle and ended up opening a three-goal margin within the first minute of play after the break.

Toffees reacted terribly to all the red flags being displayed in the closing stages of the first half and ended up allowing Harry Kane to bag the brace after meeting a perfect cross from Ben Davies inside the box with a nice first touch which went precisely inside the right post and in the back of the net of helpless Pickford.

The summer arrival from Sunderland ended up being the most prominent figure on the pitch as he produced a string of fantastic saves in the second term as well to save his team from an utter embarrassment.

Pickford first denied Christian Eriksen with a superb dive on the Dutchman’s close-range effort after a defense-splitting pass inside the box, whereas the talented goalkeeper also ruined Harry Kane’s pop at a hat-trick as he made a comfortable save to deny his strike from inside the penalty area.

Everton were given a football lesson by Mauricio Pochettino’s men, who completely outplayed, outran and outwitted the disinclined Toffees on Saturday afternoon. With only one shot on goal during entire 90 minutes, it’s fair to say that heavily reinforced Everton did nothing to put up an expected fight to sensational Spurs.

Statistical Overview

• Evenly spread possession to Everton’s 51% and Spurs’ 49%
• Everton managed to fire a single shot on goal in 90 minutes of play
• Harry Kane scored his 100^th (and 101^st) goal for Tottenham today
• Tottenham are now unbeaten in last five trips to Goodison
• Everton slump to successive defeats and are winless in last 4 matches

EVERTON: Pickford 7.5 – Martina 6, Keane 6.5, Williams 6.5, Baines 6.5 – Schneiderlin 6, Gueye 6 (Vlasic -) – Sigurdsson 6, Rooney 6, Klassen 6 (Davies 6.5) – Ramirez 6 (Calvert-Lewin 6.5).

Unused subs: Holgate, Jagielka, Mirallas, Stekelenburg.

TOTTENHAM: Lloris 6.5 – Sanchez 7, Alderweireld 7.5, Veronghen 7 – Trippier 7, Sossoko 7 (Winks 6), Dier 7.5, Davies 7.5 – Eriksen 8 (Dembele 6), Alli 7.5 – Kane 8.5 (Son Heung-Min -).

Unused subs: Aurier, Llorente, Vorm, Walker-Peters.

REFEREE: Graham Scott