Premier League: Everton 1 Tottenham 0

David Moyes celebrated 10 years in charge of Everton by claiming a 1-0 victory over Tottenham thanks to Nikica Jelavic’s first-half strike.

Following on the recent scalps of Manchester City and Chelsea, Jelavic’s 20th-minute goal set Everton on their way to a victory that condemned Spurs to their third consecutive Premier League defeat under Harry Redknapp as concerns over their top-four credentials continued to grow.

Following his substitute appearance at QPR, Jelavic was handed his first start by Moyes replacing Denis Stracqualursi as the lone frontman while Steven Pienaar missed out due to his loan agreement with Tottenham.

The visitors welcomed Scott Parker and Gareth Bale back to the line-up having missed the Premier League loss to Manchester United and Ledley King stepped into the breach in place of the injured Michael Dawson.

Louis Saha made the bench despite suggestions a gentleman’s agreement between the clubs would prevent him featuring as Jermain Defoe led the line with Emmanuel Adebayor.

The match started at a timid pace and it wasn’t until the 15th minute that a genuine chance was created. Defoe broke the Everton offside trap and collected a through ball with John Heitinga in pursuit.

After getting into the box, Defoe looked to fire a left-footed shot on goal but was denied by the recovering Dutchman’s lunge. An aggrieved Defoe looked for a penalty but referee Mark Halsey deemed the defender’s tackle legal.

This sparked the home team into life and Marouane Fellaini’s left-footed volley from a wide angle was saved by the outstretched leg of Brad Friedel minutes later.

As Tottenham struggled to deal with the movement of the midfield five Moyes deployed, Leighton Baines found Leon Osman running from deep on the left-side of the box.

Osman latched onto the pass and nipped in and past an overly aggressive Younes Kaboul before pulling the ball back for striker Jelavic.

Everton’s January signing showed impressive composure to side-foot the pass beyond Friedel from the edge of the box and mark his first start with a first goal.

The reaction from the away side lacked urgency and besides a couple of Bale long-range strikes, Tim Howard was hardly troubled by the half-hour mark.

Friedel, in contrast, had to make a low stop from a deflected Royston Drenthe effort and a sprawling parry from a Jelavic free-kick.

Spurs opted to stick with the same starting XI as they emerged for the second half and they showed renewed vigour as Defoe found space on the left of the box for Parker’s pass.

His jink inside and right-footed shot tested Howard but the American’s save was routine as he beat the ball away for a corner.

Everton, in truth, mustered little of note by the 65th minute and only the introduction of Jack Rodwell stemmed the flow of Spurs attacks.

Rafael Van der Vaart replaced Sandro with 20 minutes to go but immediately Spurs had to deal with a rare Everton attack. Osman was played in on goal on the right of the box but his drive was too central and saved by Friedel.

Five minutes after Van der Vaart’s introduction, Spurs thought they were level. Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s cross found its way to the back-post with Bale arriving.

As the ball jumped up and struck Bale on the chest, it fell to Defoe who turned it past Howard. Unfortunately for the striker he had wandered a yard offside making the decision to disallow the strike correct.

Van der Vaart saw a deflected shot nestle on the roof of Howard’s net and when the resulting corner was played short to Assou-Ekotto, his shot squirmed to Saha.

The Frenchman’s attempt, as he lost balance, wrong-footed Howard but struck the foot of the post and away to safety.

The fortune was with Everton and Spurs departed Merseyside with another damaging loss.