Match Report Everton twice came from behind to cancel out goals by Richarlison, with Jarrad Branthwaite plundering a stoppage-time equaliser just when it looked like the Brazilian had broken the Toffees’ hearts. The former Blues striker took less than four minutes to score on his first appearance back at his old stomping ground since leaving for North London in a big-money move 18 months ago and then swept home a cracker shortly before half-time to restore the visitors’ lead after Jack Harrison had levelled on the half hour. The last word belonged to Everton, though, when they forced home a second set-piece goal deep into time added on the salvage an important point in their battle to keep pace with Luton Town’s recent uptick in form. Arnaut Danjuma joined Amadou Onana, André Gomes and Abdoulaye Doucouré on the sidelines because of the ankle injury he sustained late on at Fulham on Tuesday but Idrissa Gueye returned from Africa Cup of Nations duty to turn in a terrific, high-octane performance in alongside James Garner. Neither central midfielder had tracked Richarlison into the box, however, as the first spell of pressure from Spurs yielded the opening goal. Destiny Udogie was given far too much room to advance towards the byline and centre it invitingly for the former Everton striker who turned it past Jordan Pickford with a first-time, left-footed finish. The hosts tried to respond immediately when Dominic Calvert-Lewin met Ashley Young’s cross from the right but he couldn’t keep it down while a poor giveaway in midfield by Garner gifted James Maddison the chance to threaten but his effort was deflected behind. In the main, though, Everton’s near-constant tenacity and pressure kept Ange Postecoglu’s side at bay and they began to cause problems of their own from set-pieces. Calvert-Lewin headed narrowly wide at the back post amid a forest of bodies in the 24th minute but, six minutes after that, they pulled themselves level after another Young cross had been blocked behind by a defender. Dwight McNeil swung the dead ball to the back post, James Tarkowski craned to steer it back across goal where Calvert-Lewin appeared to have nodded home his first goal in 17 games but it was ultimately credited to Jack Harrison after a check by the Video Assistant Referee, Stuart Attwell, had ruled out a foul on goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. Tottenham regained the lead, though, with a move that exploited the same right side of Everton’s defence where Timo Werner surged towards the byline and cut it back to Maddison on the edge of the box who nudged it on for Richarlison to curl one into the top corner from 19 yards out. Everton regrouped at half-time and set about trying to restore parity by exploiting the visitors’ high line and ruffling their feathers from dead-ball situations but the execution in the final third was often lacking. Harrison was twice played in behind the Spurs defence inside the first 10 minutes of the restart but, on the first occasion, he ill-advisedly tried to lob the keeper rather than trying to hold it up and bring a team-mate into the attack. On the second, he was caught by the rapid Micky van de Ven who deflected his attempted shot behind and Vicario showed signs that he had sussed out the back-post corner tactic by easily catching the resulting set-piece delivery. In between, Pedro Porro had forced a good save from Jordan Pickford who pushed his stinging shot away at full stretch and the England man had to be alert again just before the hour mark to deny Maddison superbly after Ben Godfrey had cleared it straight to the Tottenham midfielder just outside the penalty area. Pickford was there again with 20 minutes to go, parrying away Richarlison’s attempt to grab a hat-trick before Sean Dyche made three sets of substitutions, firstly by withdrawing the fatigued Godfrey in favour of Seamus Coleman, then replacing Young with Youssef Chermiti and, finally, swapping Calvert-Lewin and McNeil for Beto and Lewis Dobbin. And the young Portuguese really should have given the officials something to think about in terms of offside in the 88th minute when he latched onto Dobbin’s low cross but his attempt to guide it home off the outside of his favoured right boot failed to unduly test Vicario. Two shouts for fouls on Beto, one inside the box when he went down trying to meet Harrison’s volleyed cross and one just outside when he was felled, all flailing arms and legs, by substitute Radu Drăgușin but referee Michael Oliver wasn’t interested. But when Garner was fouled in a dangerous area in the fourth minute of added time and he whipped the resulting free-kick in, Christian Romero got a flick to it with his head which teed it up perfectly for Branthwaite who was steaming into the goalmouth and simply had to head it home. With just three home wins all season, Everton’s need to pick up points in multiples at home is growing more urgent the longer the season goes on but this was a creditable draw against talented opposition who provided almost all the quality but who couldn’t handle all of the Toffees’ aerial assaults. Dyche’s side remain in the bottom three ahead of next weekend’s daunting trip to the Etihad to face the reigning treble winners but this late recovery will provide a lift, as will the hope that some of the walking wounded might be back by the time Crystal Palace come to Goodison under the lights on 19 February. top Matchday Updates Everton play what will be only their second home game in the Premier League of 2024 when Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur come to Goodison Park for the Saturday lunchtime kick-off. The Blues drew 0-0 against Aston Villa in their last League game in front of their own fans and book-ended the FA Cup Third replay against Crystal Palace and Fourth Round defeat to Luton Town with another goalless draw at Fulham on Tuesday evening. It means that Sean Dyche’s side enter February on a run of just one win in nine matches in all competitions and sitting in the bottom three once more after the Hatters’ shock 4-0 win over Brighton. With no new faces arriving during the January transfer window, the manager will need to patch together a starting XI from those players not battling injuries which leaves little room for tactically selecting a line-up to take on what is a talented Spurs side that moved into fourth place after their midweek win over Brentford. While Ange Postecoglu had a spell late last year where he had to do without some key individuals, many of those have now returned – in particular James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur – and they will pose a formidable opponent even without Son Hueng-Min and Yves Bissouma who are still away on cup duty for their respective countries. In Son’s absence, Richarlison is likely to make his first appearance at Goodison Park since leaving Everton in the summer of 2022, another intriguing and somewhat daunting facet to a game that already feels like a tall order for Dyche’s goal-shy Toffees. Since beating Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor in mid-December, Everton have scored just five goals in those nine games in all competitions and no Blues fan will need reminding that it’s 16 games matches since Dominic Calvert-Lewin last found the net and that £25m signing Beto has just three goals to his name all season. With Abdoulaye Doucouré missing all the games since half-time at Burnley bar the draw with Villa, when he injured his other hamstring, and the goals having dried up Dwight McNeil as well, scoring enough to win matches has become a real problem. Doucouré is almost certain to miss this one along with André Gomes, Arnaut Danjuma is a big doubt after being helped off the pitch at Craven Cottage with an ankle injury on Tuesday is also unlikely to feature, and it would be a surprise if Amadou Onana was in the side after Dyche described him as “touch and go” with fluid on his knee. However, Seamus Coleman will undergo a late fitness test on his hamstring and Idrissa Gueye will be available following Senegal’s elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this week. Dyche will, no doubt, be hoping for a repeat of the performance that Everton put in in the reverse fixture just before Christmas when they almost grabbed a draw – and probably should have done given that Calvert-Lewin had a goal harshly chalked off late on. That was a display of energy and self-confidence, a combination that has been lacking from their play in recent weeks, and if they can get amongst Tottenham’s defence and unsettle their attempts to play out from the back, the hope is they can carve out some early chances that would allow them to get in front and have something to hold on to. Kick-off: 12:30pm, Saturday 3 February, 2024Referee: Michael OliverVAR: Stuart AttwellLast Time: Everton 1 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner, Young, McNeil, Harrison, Calvert-Lewin Lyndon Lloyd top Match Preview Everton play what will be only their second home game in the Premier League of 2024 when Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur come to Goodison Park for the Saturday lunchtime kick-off. The Blues drew 0-0 against Aston Villa in their last League game in front of their own fans and book-ended the FA Cup Third replay against Crystal Palace and Fourth Round defeat to Luton Town with another goalless draw at Fulham on Tuesday evening. It means that Sean Dyche’s side enter February on a run of just one win in nine matches in all competitions and sitting in the bottom three once more after the Hatters’ shock 4-0 win over Brighton. With no new faces arriving during the January transfer window, the manager will need to patch together a starting XI from those players not battling injuries which leaves little room for tactically selecting a line-up to take on what is a talented Spurs side that moved into fourth place after their midweek win over Brentford. While Ange Postecoglu had a spell late last year where he had to do without some key individuals, many of those have now returned – in particular James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur – and they will pose a formidable opponent even without Son Hueng-Min and Yves Bissouma who are still away on cup duty for their respective countries. In Son’s absence, Richarlison is likely to make his first appearance at Goodison Park since leaving Everton in the summer of 2022, another intriguing and somewhat daunting facet to a game that already feels like a tall order for Dyche’s goal-shy Toffees. Since beating Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor in mid-December, Everton have scored just five goals in those nine games in all competitions and no Blues fan will need reminding that it’s 16 games matches since Dominic Calvert-Lewin last found the net and that £25m signing Beto has just three goals to his name all season. With Abdoulaye Doucouré missing all the games since half-time at Burnley bar the draw with Villa, when he injured his other hamstring, and the goals having dried up Dwight McNeil as well, scoring enough to win matches has become a real problem. Doucouré is almost certain to miss this one along with André Gomes, Arnaut Danjuma is a big doubt after being helped off the pitch at Craven Cottage with an ankle injury on Tuesday is also unlikely to feature, and it would be a surprise if Amadou Onana was in the side after Dyche described him as “touch and go” with fluid on his knee. However, Seamus Coleman will undergo a late fitness test on his hamstring and Idrissa Gueye will be available following Senegal’s elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this week. Dyche will, no doubt, be hoping for a repeat of the performance that Everton put in in the reverse fixture just before Christmas when they almost grabbed a draw – and probably should have done given that Calvert-Lewin had a goal harshly chalked off late on. That was a display of energy and self-confidence, a combination that has been lacking from their play in recent weeks, and if they can get amongst Tottenham’s defence and unsettle their attempts to play out from the back, the hope is they can carve out some early chances that would allow them to get in front and have something to hold on to. Kick-off: 12:30pm, Saturday 3 February, 2024Referee: Michael OliverVAR: Stuart AttwellLast Time: Everton 1 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur Predicted Line-up: Pickford, Coleman, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner, Young, McNeil, Harrison, Calvert-Lewin Lyndon Lloyd top * Unfortunately, we cannot control other sites' content policies and therefore cannot guarantee that links to external reports will remain active.