Tottenham Hotspur 2 Everton 1
It was Roberto Soldado’s first Premier League goal since March. It was only his third in open play for Tottenham Hotspur in the league since his high-profile transfer from Valencia in the summer of last year. But to the club’s supporters inside White Hart Lane, it was a thing of great beauty and something to further embellish his status in their eyes.
Soldado is an unlikely hero, given the paucity of his return in the competition that he was signed to illuminate. But the Tottenham crowd has consistently offered the Spanish striker incredible backing and he repaid them with the moment in first-half injury time when he took Aaron Lennon’s through-ball and hammered it past the Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.
This was not a great overall performance from Soldado. He had missed his challenge on Kevin Mirallas just before the Everton attacker bent home a cracker to open the scoring and he fluffed his lines when a big opportunity knocked on 37 minutes. But he scored and it turned out to be the winner. When he was substituted late on, he departed to a thunderous, standing ovation.
Tottenham were good, and they showed character to fight back to record arguably the best win under the manager Mauricio Pochettino. Harry Kane ignited the comeback, playing a prominent role in both of the goals and Tottenham could enjoy a positive result after a Thursday night assignment in the Europa League, when they had beaten Partizan Belgrade here.
Everton started brightly but they were second best from the moment that Christian Eriksen equalised and they knew that it was not to be their day when the referee, Michael Oliver, failed to spot Federico Fazio’s handball in the 90th minute. Fazio had jumped with Romelu Lukaku with his hand raised high and very suspiciously.
It has been a quirk that Tottenham have played at home after every one of their seven Europa League ties this season (including the two qualifiers) and it is fair to say that they struggled to balance the demands of playing on Thursdays and Sundays. Pochettino would prefer that Tottenham played on a Monday night after a Europa League game.
Everton, though, have been in a similar situation and they arrived at White Hart Lane after their win at Wolfsburg on Thursday night having lost two of their four post-Europa League ties, including one at home to Crystal Palace.
The attempt to quantify the effect of the Europa League tends to be an inexact science, particularly when the managers make many changes to their teams, as was the case here. Pochettino made five from the Partizan game; Roberto Martínez four from Wolfsburg. But the sub-plot was one that framed the encounter.
The tempo was breathless at the outset, with Everton settling smoothly and advertising the opening goal through Lukaku. He ought to have scored from close-range after Ross Barkley’s pass had ricocheted and then broken off a Tottenham defender for Lukaku in front of goal. Hugo Lloris made a vital block.
Everton were available at odds of 3-1 to win before the kick-off and that came to look even more attractive when they forged ahead. Vlad Chiriches, the central defender, who started at right-back, conceded a needless free-kick for a lunge at Mirallas and things quickly got worse for Tottenham.
Ryan Mason headed away from Leighton Baines’ delivery but Mirallas won the ball back, having made light of Soldado’s weak challenge. He dropped his shoulder and jinked inside before unfurling a glorious right-footed curler from 20 yards that arched inside the far, top corner. It looked a goal from the moment it left his boot.
Tottenham looked nervy and when Chiriches almost sold Lloris short with a back-pass, there was that hum of grumbling that has been heard so often here this season. But the home team turned it around, thanks in no small measure to the fearless running and old-fashioned enterprise of Kane.
The young striker was central to the equaliser, slicing through the Everton defence and shooting low at goal. Tim Howard parried and Eriksen reacted the quickest to clip the ball back towards the far corner. It made it there, evading Gareth Barry, who had sprinted back onto the line.
Eriksen shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area and Soldado’s touch let him down when he was well placed following Muhamed Besic’s loose back header before Kane provided another spark. He won the ball from Barry to allow Lennon to tear at the Everton defence. His slide-rule pass was perfectly weighted for Soldado, who took one touch to set himself and another to lash past Howard.
After the difficult opening 20 minutes, Tottenham came to play some attractive football against high-calibre opposition and it was noticeable how the home support responded. This stadium has not felt so positive for some time. Kane was excellent, bending the contest to the force of his will while Eriksen and Mason emerged with honours.
Everton faded. They had endured a more difficult Europa League tie on Thursday than Tottenham and they looked flat for much of the second-half. Lukaku was isolated and ineffective. Seamus Coleman was denied by Lloris at close quarters from Barkley’s pass on 71 minutes before Fazio got away with his handball at the very end.
(Guardian service)
