Tottenham hasn't had the best of luck in recent times against Everton, with only one victory in their last nine coming in. However, I think everybody would agree that this is a different Spurs side. They've been on fire, and they didn't let up against the Toffees.
Ironically, Everton's best chance of the match came in the very first minute to Louis Saha. The Frenchman jumped on a slight miscue from the Spurs defense and looked poised to challenge Brad Friedel in net. Unfortuantely for Everton, Saha flubbed the shot and watched it trickle harmlessly wide of the post.
After that Tottenham took control of what was to end up being a possession oriented match. Neither side really created a ton of chances in the first half, but for the most part Spurs controlled the ball and the tempo.
Everton finally picked up steam again a little bit around the half hour mark. In the 32nd minute Louis Saha took a rather indulgent shot toward goal that missed yet again. Had he looked up, he would have found teammates in better positions. In the 34th Landon Donovan tried his luck, but watched his shot float harmlessly well over the bar. All in all it was a lackluster day for the American.
Those misses came back to plague Everton just a minute later. A major defensive mistake by Leighton Baines let the speedy Aaron Lennon in at goal. With a clever move the Spurs' midfielder wrong footed Tim Howard and dropped the ball into the net to make it 1-0. That was also our halftime result.
Everton came out fighting again in the second half. Say what you want about David Moyes' men, but they never quit. Saha had a shot blocked in the 54th minute, and Fellaini watched a header fly over the bar in the 58th. He really should have done better with it.
In the 63rd minute Spurs iced the points. From about the 55th minute on you could feel them steadily turning up the heat on Everton. The 2nd goal came from an unexpected source though. Benoit Assou-Ekotto blasted a strike at goal that lasered past Tim Howard to make it 2-0. Howard never had much of a chance on it in the first place, but it did take a deflection off of Tim Cahill that made it all the more difficult. Great goal though.
With a little under ten minutes to ago, Everton appealed to the referee to try and get them back in it via a penalty kick. Younes Kaboul brought Royston Drenthe down in the box with a touch of contact as he sped toward goal, but referee Martin Atkinson was not interested and the match ended with the 2-0 score.
This one was a really tough loss for Everton, who played their guts out, like usual. It's unfortunate for them because they have zero offense. I'm sorry, but Louis Saha couldn't hit a house wall from two yards out. It's just not working for him. Donovan didn't do much either. It's too bad Moyes doesn't have some money to spend.
The win puts Tottenham in a great position though. The 3 points put them right there with United and just behind City. The only problem I might see for Spurs is depth. They play a lot of the same guys week in and week out, and one wonders if that might come back to haunt them in the later stages of the title race.
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