Tottenham Hotspur   2    Everton   1      (Half-time score : 2-0)

  1  Gomes

22  Corluka
19  Bassong
20  Dawson  (c)
  3  Bale

14  Modric       
12  Palacios
  6  Huddlestone
21  Kranjcar (25  Rose  82)

18  Defoe  (17  Gudjohnsen  71)
  9  Pavlyuchenko     (15  Crouch  52)

Unused subs: 
27  Alnwick
30  Dervite
28  Kyle Walker
32  Assou-Ekotto

24  Howard

  3  Baines
  5  Heitinga     
15  Distin
18  Neville (c)     

20  Osman  (  6  Jagielka  46)
10  Arteta     
21  Pienaar     
26  Rodwell  (14  Vaughan  81)

28  Anicebe  (  9  Donovan  63)
22  Yakubu 

Unused subs: 
  1  Nash
  4  Yobo
  7  Bilyeditnov
19  Gosling

Pavlyuchenko  11
Modric 28

Yakubu 55

    
Modric (kicking ball away)   90+4


 

    
Neville (foul)   5
Arteta (foul)    73
Pienaar (foul)    76 
Heitinga (foul)   86

While Spurs had a backs-to-the-wall effort for a lot of the second half, it was Everton's physical and cynical approach which assisted their revival.  A goal ten minutes after the kick-off in the second half saw Yakubu scramble home a goal from close range when Spurs failed to deal with a deep corner and this lead to an onslaught from the Blues.

It was reminiscent of the away game between the two teams a few months back when Tottenham managed to turn over a 2-0 score-line and allow the Toffees to claw back a draw.  The way Spurs started was also familiar and has been a trademark of some of the better results we have had.  A good tempo kept Everton pegged back and with Bale bombing down the left, Kranjcar pushed on up the right wing and Huddlestone was dictating play from midfield, alongside the mercurial Modric.  A neat move saw Huddlestone put a 50 yard pass beyond the visitors' defence and Defoe was on to it like lightning.  He took the ball into the area on the right side and slammed a shot across Howard, but it was going across the six yard box until Roman Pavlyuchenko threw himself at the ball to knock it home with his leg from close range.  No off-side controversy this week, as he came from behind Heitinga to tuck the ball away.  It continued his vein of goals since returning to first team action and he poached what was undoubtedly a shot on goal by Defoe.

So 11 minutes in and the early goal to the good, Spurs continued to play the football that has won them a lot of points this season.  Pav had another shot on goal from the edge of the box after cutting inside from the left hand side of the pitch, but Howard got both fists to it to punch away awkwardly.  In between, a routine catch from a corner saw Heurelho Gomes drop the ball at the far post and luckily, Michael Dawson was there to get in the way of Yakubu's shot.  

Gareth Bale was a constant thorn in Everton's left side, with pacy and tricky runs down that wing.  Phil Neville had already put in an ugly tackle on him to earn a fifth minute booking and was lucky in the second half to escape with another when he made two quick fouls and knocked the ball away on a couple of occasions, when Modric got booked for doing the same first time.  The Welsh defender stood a cross up to the far post for Kranjcar to head downwards, but with little power in the 25th minute and then before half-time had a shot deflected away by Heitinga and then put a low ball into the near post for Defoe, who just failed to get a decent touch on it inside the six yard box.

However, in the 28th minute, Luka Modric finished off a move involving his two countrymen to make it 2-0.  He was involved in the build up as the three Croatians linked on the right hand corner of the box, but took the ball just inside the area to hit a shot that dipped over Howard to hit the underside of the bar to go in.  It was a fine finish as he wasn't that far out, with the little midfielder deserving the goal for his play since returning from a broken leg.

Rodwell had a free header from five yards out five minutes before the break, but out it wide and while Everton had their opportunities, they failed to take them.  After actor and Spurs fan Stephen Mangan had had a laugh at the visiting Merseysiders at the break, the teams came out with Everton bringing on Phil Jagielka in place of Leon Osman.   The system changed with two men pushed forward and one was the faintly unbelievable Anichebe, who appeared unable to run and his effectiveness only became clear when a corner in the 55th minute went o the far post and was knocked down and the big Everton youngster blocked off Gomes to allow Yakubu to push the ball home from close range.

Gomes might have been a bit stronger in that incident, but he had held a 20 yard shot from Heitinga just after the break and then, when Anichebe put in a low ball to the near post, turned away Rodwell's first time 56th minute shot with a sharp save.  Whether the virus that had hit the squad during the week was getting to Wilson Palacios, I don't know, but a loose pass across the midfield was picked off by Pienaar and he drove forward to shoot at goal from the edge of the box, forcing Gomes to throw himself to his left to push it wide.

Corluka had forced Howard to push a shot from 25 yards out over the bar, before Everton missed a golden opportunity to level things up.  Rodwell was played into the box on the left and he turned Bassong to hit a shot across Gomes, but the keeper managed to get hands to it.  However, he could only divert the ball across goal to the far post, where substitute Landon Donovan stood with the goal gaping in front of him.  With Bale diving back onto the line, the American only had to knock it home, but managed to miss the target altogether from about a yard out and the chance went begging.  There was one more effort from Everton when Jagielka rose unmarked to head a corner at goal, but he put it over when he should have hit the goal in the 84th minute.

Spurs were reduced to hitting on the break and Heitinga was booked for rugby tackling Kranjcar after Pienaar had done the same to Corluka and Arteta to Modric when the Spurs players looked to break into attack with the Everton players unable to keep pace with them.  It is a cynical and "professional" act, which in my book deserves more than a yellow card wherever it happens on the pitch.

But Tottenham hung on for the win, with Kranjcar going close at the end after being set up by a lung-busting run by Bale. While under pressure for long periods of the second half, Spurs defended well, but the loss of Huddlestone with a kick on the foot in the 53rd minute changed the way the game was going, as his replacement Younes Kaboul is not in the same league when it comes to passing and retaining possession.  It is weird that for one so pilloried by some sections of the Spurs support, it took a bad injury for them to sing his name and to realise how much he means to the way the team play.

Another three points and back into fourth, the season continues to roll on with a break for FA Cup football next week, but the action being on the second front will not deter Tottenham from trying to win both prizes within their reach.

the polyphant