Everton 3 – 2 Tottenham
Everton scored three goals in a Premier League game for only the second time this season and held off a late comeback by Tottenham to hold out for a precious victory at Goodison Park.
David Moyes was on the touchline the last time a Blues team beat Spurs at home 13 long years ago and, in his second match since returning as manager, he watched his charges storm into a seemingly unassailable half-time lead that could have been larger before the visitors cut their deficit to two with a quarter of an hour to go.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s first goal in 17 games set Everton on their way after just 13 minutes, Iliman Ndiaye scored a fine individual effort on the half hour and Alfie Gray’s own goal deep into first-half stoppage time made it an incredible 3-0.
However, when Dejan Kulusevski chipped home to make it 3-1, both the home crowd and the home team started to get a little edgy, made worse when substitute Richarlison plundered a second in added time at the end of the second half.
Moyes’s men successfully saw out the remaining three minutes though and put some more daylight between themselves and the bottom three.
Having made no changes in terms of personnel against Aston Villa on Wednesday evening, Moyes made a couple of key adjustments for this fixture, handing Jake O’Brien his first league start for Everton at right back and deploying Jesper Lindstrøm ahead of him at right wing.
Both players rewarded their manager’s faith but the Dane was one of the standout performers on the pitch with a revelatory performance. He stung Antonín Kinský’s hands early on with a raking shot that the keeper palmed wide and it was interception of Pape Saar’s ball that set up the opening goal.
Orel Mangala left Lindstrøm’s pass for Idrissa Gueye who shaped to shoot, only to play in Calvert-Lewin who exhibited wonderful footwork to turn Gray in the box before tucking his shot into an open side of the goal with aplomb.
Kinský turned a Mangala effort onto the post and, from the ensuing cross, Calvert-Lewin could only head straight at the keeper but it was 2-0 shortly afterwards.
Ndiaye exchanged passes with Gueye on the halfway line and then drove forward with Spurs’s defence in retreat before fooling Radu Dragusin with a brilliant shift of his body and then firing high into the net.
In between, Ange Postecoglou’s side had briefly threatened when Kulusevski stole in between Gueye and Vitalii Mykolenko but Hueng-min Son failed to test Jordan Pickford with a low shot from the Swede’s centre and he was foiled by the England keeper again a few minutes later.
Lucas Bergvall hammered a shot over the crossbar after Ndiaye’s goal but Everton remained the more likely to score and, after Kinsky did well to keep out Tarkowski’s diving header, they duly did on the stroke of half-time. A cleared corner was worked to Lindstrøm on the right flank and when his deep cross was headed back across goal by James Tarkowski, Gray could only put the ball into his own net.
It could have got worse for Postecoglou in the second half but Mykolenko blazed over when well placed and after just failing to chase down another ball over the top, Calvert-Lewin came close to punishing the Spurs keeper for passing the ball straight to Lindstrøm.
Always a danger going forward, Tottenham gave themselves hope as the game moved into the final 20 minutes as Moyes turned to his bench with a raft of defensive substitutions that saw the Blues finish with Michael Keane, Ashley Young and Nathan Patterson on the pitch with only the tiring O’Brien making way from those defenders who had started.
James Maddison had been a peripheral figure until then but it was he who chased Son’s ball to the byline where he evaded Pickford and eventually cut it back to Mikey Moore. His shot was blocked but Kulusevski floated the rebound over everyone and into the net to make it 3-1.
Moore had a shot deflected inches wide as Spurs pressed and two minutes into stoppage time, Moore’s arcing ball to the back post was bundled in by Richarlison.
Despite the palpable unease in the stadium, Everton held out for the final three minutes and the final whistle was greeted with a huge roar as Goodison toasted only its fourth league win all season.