Tottenham's Away Undefeated Streak is at Nine Games Now

Tottenham Hotspur began the New Year with a draw, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering who their opponent was. A very tough Everton team who boasts one of the Premier League’s best offenses this sesaon.

Before we begin with today’s quick reaction on the game, here is how Mauricio Pochettino decided to line up his starting eleven as well as a few pre-game notes to start this second and final fixture against Everton in the Premier League.

Tottenham’s Starting XI (4-2-3-1 formation):
Harry Kane
Christian Eriksen — Dele Alli — Erik Lamela
Tom Carroll — Eric Dier
Ben Davies — Jan Vertonghen — Toby Alderweireld — Kyle Walker
Hugo Lloris

Spurs’ Bench:
Michel Vorm
Danny Rose
Kieran Trippier
Nabil Bentaleb
Nacer Chadli
Josh Onomah
Son Heung-min

Pre-game notes:

Tom Carroll makes his 3rd Premier League start (10th appearance in the Premiership overall)
Ben Davies makes his 10th Premier League start (11th appearance in the Premiership overall)
Mauricio Pochettino reverted back to his favored 4-2-3-1 formation (the 3-4-2-1 was situational)
Josh Onomah returns to the bench since December 13 against Newcastle United

The Premier League’s third best offensive team in Everton would host the league’s best defensive team in Tottenham. After a thrilling and exhilarating 90 minutes, both sides would take a well deserved point once again in their second and final meeting of this Premier League season.

From the opening minute of the game and up to half-time, Tottenham looked to be the most likely to walk away from Goodison Park with three points even after it was level one-all off of goals scored by Aaron Lennon of Everton and Dele Alli of Spurs.

And as soon as the second half was about to begin, the early prediction that Tottenham would have won, still held up. Until it was obvious that Toffees’ manager, Roberto Martinez, instructed his team to start pressing higher up the pitch to go after the ball, rather than sitting behind and letting the game and Tottenham come to them.

That thinking worked out very well for the Blues as the possession started to even out despite a couple of more chances still in Spurs’ favor. But as soon as the game reached the half-hour mark, it was becoming even more apparent that Everton was getting stronger and stronger, dominating possession and putting Tottenham on their heels.

Lately, there’s been a trend with Spurs when it comes to how they start games off — specifically the first 20 minutes. If Tottenham start off fast, they start to fade away as the game wears on, and by the end are exhausted However, if Spurs start off slow, then they get stronger by the end of the game.

More from Hotspur HQ

Today was another one of Tottenham’s fast start-type of games as Spurs were able to assert their dominance early and get their equalizing goal before half-time. When they were trailing after 22 minutes.

But then afterwards, Tottenham were forced to play keep away and defend as Everton started to figure out Mauricio Pochettino’s gameplan during the second half. Intercepting and dispossessing Spurs multiple times and even getting into the Lilywhites’ penalty box to close the game out.

Now the only thing that can be taken as a negative in this exciting matchup, besides earning a draw and one point, was how Tottenham conceded a goal when Kyle Walker and Christian Eriksen had some miscommunication on where the pass should be played. That, and how to close games out when Spurs start off fast.

Otherwise everything else was still good. Yes, points were dropped because they could have been one point behind Manchester City in the league table, instead of three.

But considering how Tottenham’s defense was letting Everton have their way with very near chances and missed opportunities by Romelu Lukaku it could have been much worse score-wise. Or not even close, if Harry Kane and Ben Davies were able to score and not be hit by terrible luck with the inside of the left post and the underside of the crossbar, respectively on both shots.

Next: Spurs' Tom Carroll Comes Full Circle

Still, one loss in 10 away games, nine straight without a defeat this season is very impressive. Next up for Tottenham is a two-game series against Leicester City. One in the FA Cup third round on January 10 and three days later once again in the Premier League, but this time at White Hart Lane.

Now here’s a look at the full-time stats and post-game notes below:

Full-time stats:
Everton (left) vs Tottenham (right)
10 — Shots — 19
2 — Shots on target — 4
8 — Fouls — 11
3 — Offsides — 1
1 — Yellow cards — 2
0 — Red cards — 0
41% — Possession — 59%

Post-game notes:

Dele Alli scored his 4th away goal this season (5 goals overall)
Toby Alderweireld registered his 2nd assist in the Premiership (both to Dele Alli on long balls)
Christian Eriksen has been subbed off 4 times this season
Son Heung-min makes his 6th substitution appearance this season
Nacer Chadli makes his 5th substitution appearance this season
Josh Onomah makes his 4th substitution appearance this season
Tottenham are undefeated in 9 away games this season (last away loss was against Manchester United in the season opener)
Spurs have conceded 16 league goals after Aaron Lennon scored (still the league’s best defensive record in terms of goals conceded)

Tottenham’s Away Undefeated Streak is at Nine Games Now

By Alexander Balano | Jan 3, 2016

Tottenham Hotspur began the New Year with a draw, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering who their opponent was. A very tough Everton team who boasts one of the Premier League’s best offenses this sesaon.

More from Hotspur HQ