Tottenham 2 Everton 1:TOTTENHAM regained fourth position in the Premier League here yesterday in the compelling competition to be the best of the rest, but there was a sombre expression on the manager Harry Redknapp's face last night and little wonder.
Despite a successful week, which also saw the destruction of Bolton in the FA Cup, injuries are piling up like a traffic accident at White Hart Lane. Redknapp revealed that Aaron Lennon would be out for another six weeks with his long-running (or limping) groin injury, which will be of as much concern to England supporters as to those in north London.
Jermaine Jenas is having a groin operation this week and the leg injury that resulted in Tom Huddlestone, their pivotal midfield player, being carried off early in the second half is another headache for Redknapp. “I don’t know how bad his injury is,” said the manager. “It doesn’t look all that good at the moment. It’s the bottom of his leg and his foot. I think he kicked a boot as he shot.
“He’ll have a scan and we’ll see how it is. But we are running out of central midfield players. We’ve only got three anyway, with Wilson Palacios, Tom and Jermaine Jenas. We are picking up a few knocks to key players. Ledley [King] has a thigh strain, and it looks like Woody [Jonathan Woodgate] is out for the season. [David] Bentley also has a tear in his groin. But how good will we be when they’re all fit?”
The malaise which sometimes grips Spurs cannot be entirely explained in the treatment room. Perhaps it is because they are capable of such sublime play – and their performance in the first half was not much short of that – that they have difficulty sustaining it.
Everton were overwhelmed in the first half but showed enough resolution and dogged skill in the second to take a point, which they would have but for substitute Landon Donovan, who missed such a sitter that it may prevent him from smiling for the rest of his life.
“We didn’t turn up in the first half and you could maybe say the same thing about Tottenham in the second,” said their manager, David Moyes. “I think we were all a bit weary in the head after Europe.”
Spurs took the lead after 11 minutes when Jermain Defoe crossed from the right for Roman Pavlyuchenko to slide in at the far post.
It was one of few contributions from the leading scorer Defoe and he was substituted halfway through the second half. Tottenham appeared to have a comfortable hold on the game when they went 2-0 in the 28th minute, Luke Modric receiving the ball from Niko Kranjcar to beat Tim Howard with a delightful, dipping shot which entered the goal via the underside of the bar.
“It was one of the best goals I’ve scored,” he said. I’m very happy but the most important thing is that we won this game. It was a massive win.”
But towards the end of the first half Everton gave warnings that they were still in the match and Jack Rodwell should have done better when he sent a free header wide from eight yards.
Everton did score 10 minutes into the second half when Yakubu Ayegbeni exploited hesitation by the entire Spurs defence. After that they missed a number of chances to equalise. Steven Pienaar intercepted a pass and raced through with only the goalkeeper to beat in the 73rd minute and Phil Jagielka sent another free header over in the 83rd.
However, the best chance was spurned by Donovan. Rodwell crossed to him and he was unmarked and two yards out beside the far post but still shot wide. Moyes buried his head in his hands.
Guardian Service
