Roberto Soldado Goal As Tottenham Come Back To Defeat Everton

Roberto Soldado scored the winning goal on the stroke of half-time as Tottenham recovered from conceding an early goal against Everton at White Hart Lane. Christian Eriksen had scored a quick equaliser.

Tottenham Hotspur 2 Everton 1

Scorers: Eriksen, Soldado   Mirallas

Team: Lloris; Chiriches (Dier), Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Lennon (Lamela), Bentaleb, Mason, Eriksen; Kane, Soldado (Paulinho) Subs: (unused) Vorm, Kaboul, Chadli, Dembele

Tottenham started the Premier League game against Everton at White Hart Lane with the same back four as finished last weekend’s game at Hull. Vlad Chiriches and Ben Davies retained their places and Federico Fazio who missed the midweek game against Partizan through suspension returned. In central midfield Nabil Bentaleb replaced Mousa Dembele to partner Ryan Mason with Aaron Lennon starting ahead of Erik Lamela. With the return of players from injury, Mauricio Pochettino had a stronger bench which included Nacer Chadli and Younes Kaboul.

In an early Everton attack, Davies showed good defensive play for Spurs as Coleman tried to reach a ball played behind the home defence. In the opening quarter of an hour, both sides worked hard to win and retain possession but the Everton play was more threatening. Hugo Lloris saved a low shot by Lukaku from 8 yards when the ball rebounded off Mason on the edge of the area.

With both full-backs getting forward in attack, Spurs were delivering crosses into the box but hadn’t enough men up in attack to trouble the Everton defence.

After 15 minutes, Everton were rewarded for their control when from a free-kick for a foul by Chiriches on Mirallas, they took the lead. The free-kick was headed to the edge of the box but Soldado was unable to complete the clearance, allowing Miralles to collect the ball and curl a shot into the top corner of the goal.

Three minutes after going behind, Chiriches played a poor back pass but Lloris was out quickly to clear as Lukaku closed him down on the edge of the area.

Tottenham responded well to the setback and were level within 6 minutes. It was their first attempt on goal and came after Eriksen won possession on halfway. The ball came to Kane who powered towards goal. His shot was parried by Tim Howard but Eriksen was in a position to score the equaliser.

The goal brought greater energy and pace to the Spurs play with Mason and Bentaleb controlling central midfield. A shot by Mason from 20 yards was straight at the goalkeeper who caught it at the second attempt. In the 28th minute, a break by Spurs through Kane was played wide to Mason. His cross was cleared but fell to Kane whose chipped effort drifted over the bar.

A minute later Jan Vertonghen brought the ball out of defence and played it to Kane who again troubled the Everton defenders but his low shot lacked power. In the 33rd minute, good work by Mason and Kane saw Lennon with the ball. He played it to Eriksen but his shot was deflected wide.

After their good opening period Everton were struggling to break Spurs down but in the 36th minute, Lloris had to save a low shot from Coleman at his near post. A poor back header almost put Soldado through on goal but he couldn’t get a touch and Howard was able to claim the ball.

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In added time, Tottenham went ahead when Kane won possession in midfield. He played the ball forward to Lennon who ran on and played Roberto Soldado behind the defence to shoot across Howard for his first League goal of the season.

Everton pressed early in the second half but Vertonghen made a good clearance from a dangerous cross after 48 minutes. Soldado broke through on goal three minutes later but Coleman recovered to clear for Everton. In the 57th minute, following a short corner Eriksen delivered a cross to the near post where Fazio just failed to get a touch.

A minute later, Lloris collected a shot from distance by Lukaku and distributed it quickly to Kane who set off on goal and was eventually brought down in a central position. Eriksen’s free-kick hit the wall. After 59 minutes a shot by Mason went over the bar. Chiriches shot over from a good position and then Eriksen saw a shot blocked on the edge of the area.

Everton raised their game in the final twenty minutes but Spurs defended strongly, working hard for each other. In the final minutes, Tottenham looked to hit Everton on the break but couldn’t make their final pass count. Everton had claims for a penalty turned down in the 88th minute for handball against Fazio. In added time, Kane broke into the area and went down but play was waved on.

Tottenham move up into 7th place in the Premier League, having produced their best performance of the season. It was a well-deserved win against a good Everton team and will boost the confidence of the Spurs players going into the next game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.