Match Preview

Match-ups with Tottenham used to be occasions to dread.  Our record against the lilywhites of North London before last season was atrocious, but after a typical 3-0 collapse at White Hart Lane in the first half of the campaign, the Blues laid one part of the Spurs hoodoo to rest with a scintillating display in front of the Sky Sports cameras in April.

It was Everton's first home win over Spurs since April 1997 and the performance David Moyes's side put on that night was apparently enough for them to decide to take the rest of the season off because they didn't win any of their next six games and finished a depressing 17th.

This season, of course, things are very different.  Since suffering a 4-1 hiding by Tottenham's rivals from Highbury on the opening day, the Blues have taken 16 points from 18 and conceded just two goals.  And no one needs reminding that we are sitting pretty in third place in the table with second spot, for 24 hours at least, beckoning as Chelsea don't play until Sunday.

The architect of Spurs' destruction in April was James McFadden but the most he can hope for this time around is a place on the bench as Moyes will no doubt continue with the successful 4-5-1 formation with Leon Osman likely to return to the midfield following a groin strain.  Steve Watson would be the sensible choice to make way so that the Cahill-Carsley-Gravesen triumvirate can be retained.

At the back, Alan Stubbs and David Weir have formed a solid partnership and the fact that they kept Joseph Yobo on the bench at Portsmouth speaks volumes for the renaissance these two wily old campaigners are enjoying in front of Nigel Martyn.  Tony Hibbert has been a revelation and, thankfully, the efforts of the other 10 men on the field have so far hidden the liabilities represented by Messers Pistone and Naysmith.

Up front, Marcus Bent will no doubt be asked to lead the line on his own once more, with Duncan Ferguson ready to cause disruption rather than pose any goalscoring threat from the bench should things be even or go in Everton's favour in the first hour.

Tottenham, under new boss Jacues Santini are a much-improved side having bought heavily and wisely in the summer.  It means that the club whose fortunes have perhaps mirrored those of our own most closely in recent years has also made a solid start to 2004-05 and currently occupy a mid-table berth going into this weekend's clash.

Despite the new arrivals at "The Lane', though, their biggest threats, come from two players who were acquired by the previous regime: Robbie Keane — a perpetual thorn in the Blues' side — and Jermaine Defoe.  Backed by a midfield containing Jamie Redknapp , Simon Davies and, of course, Sean Davis, and a defence boasting the pacey Ledley King, this one won't be easy, especially as Tottenham have lost just once so far (last weekend's 1-0 home defeat by improving Manchester United.)

They also have a creditable 1-0 win at Newcastle, but injury to Freddie Kanoute won't have eased Santini's chagrin over the size of his squad.  Well, Jacques, take a walk in David Moyes's shoes!

Given the confidence with which Everton are playing right now and the recent run of results it is getting to the point where the Goodison faithful will be disappointed if we don't win this one.  The bar has been raised to the point where this has become thee type of game the Blues should win if they hope to remain in contention for Europe.

They will struggle for goals again but if the determined rearguard can continue its superb form and the Blues can play their game of containment, the opportunity is there to nick the odd goal and claim that second place behind the Champions, even if only for a day!

Lyndon Lloyd

Matchday Stats

This will be the 147th meeting between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur in all competitions, and the 75th at Goodison Park.  This match will be the 25th meeting in the Premiership.

Everton's full record against Tottenham is:

Our record at home to Tottenham is:

The last match between the sides was on 9 April this year when goals from three of Everton's defenders on the night (David Unsworth, Gary Naysmith and Joseph Yobo) secured a 3-1 victory.  In fact David Unsworth's goal was his last for Everton.

There have been 6 Everton hat-tricks against Tottenham, with the last (and also the last hat-trick against Tottenham at Goodison Park) being Tony Cottee's in a 3-1 victory on 5 October 1991, just under 13 years ago.  Jimmy Harris' hat-trick on 11 October 1958, at White Hart Lane, was the second instance in Everton history of a player scoring a hat-trick and still being on the losing side, as Everton recorded their biggest defeat, in terms of goals conceded, as they went down 10-4.

The most common victory for Everton is 1-0 which has happened 16 times in Everton's 49 victories.  Spurs' most common victory is 2-1 which has happened 13 times in Tottenham's 52 victories. The most common draw between the teams is 1-1, which has occurred 23 times in the 45 draws between the sides.

Everton's record for 2 October is:

This is the first time the sides have met on this day.  The last match on this day was in 1999, when Everton drew 1-1 with Coventry at Goodison Park.  On this day in 1984, Everton scraped through their European Cup Winners' Cup tie against University College Dublin with a 1-0 victory at Goodison Park after the first leg had ended 0-0 in Dublin.

Bob Kelso was born on this day in 1865 in Cardross.  Bob was signed from Newcastle United and went on to make just 1 appearance in the inaugural Football League season in 1888-89, before he was sold to Preston North End.  The club then bought him back from Preston in time for the 1891-92 season and, over the next 5 season, Bob went on to make 102 appearances, scoring 5 goals in the process, before he moved to Dundee.

George Beare was also born on this day in 1885 in Southampton.  Signed from Blackpool, George made 118 appearances and scored 19 goals before his transfer to Cardiff City after the 1913-14 season.

Michael Ball was born on this day in 1979 in Liverpool.  Signed from an apprenticeship in August 1996, Michael made 139 appearances, and scored 8 goals, for Everton before his high profile move north of the border to Rangers in August 2001.  During his time at the club, Michael made 1 substitute appearance for England which remains, to date, his only full international cap.

Ray Wilson appeared for England on this day in 1965 in their 0-0 draw with Wales in the Home International Championship.

Three years later, John Hurst and Howard Kendall won England u23 caps in a 3-1 victory over Wales u23.

Milestone's that can be reached in this game:

• This match will David Moyes' 50th match in charge of Everton at Goodison Park.
• If Duncan Ferguson starts the game it will be his 150th start for Everton in the league.

Steve Flanagan

Off-key Everton come up short

Everton will count themselves very unlucky not to have taken at least a point from this game after twice hitting the woodwork and having an early penalty claim turned down by "Mr Anti-Everton," Graham Poll.  Ultimately , however, they were beaten at their own game as Tottenham did just enough to grab a goal against the run of play and shut up shop to grind out the win in the second half.

Moyes made just one change from last weekend; Leon Osman returned to the starting line-up at the expense of Steve Watson after recovering from the groin strain that kept him out of the win at Portsmouth.

The game started in scrappy fashion for the first quarter of an hour but Everton had an early penalty claim as early as the fourth minute when a great run into the area by Marcus Bent ended in the striker seemingly being tripped by Erik Edman but, not surprisingly given his apparent bias against the Blues, Graham Poll gave nothing and waved play on.

By the 15th minute mark, however, Everton were beginning to build some pressure and following two unsuccessful corners, Thomas Gravesen launched a long throw into the area which Tim Cahill headed off the outside of the post.

Two minutes after that, Osman connected with a Cahill cross but his header was blocked at point-blank range by Paul Robinson. So unlucky but it was great work on the right by Cahill.

With Kevin Kilbane enjoying his match-up with Pamarot down the left, the Irishman chested the ball on after 26 minutes and with time to shoot, he flashed a shot across goal and a foot wide.  A minute later, he charged into the area again to meet a cross from the right but Pamarot did enough to get in the way and divert the ball clear. The fans appealed for a penalty but Poll was correct on this occasion when he said no.

After half an hour, Spurs began to find some rhythm of their own but while Jermaine Defoe and Robbie Keane did enough to suggest that the threat was there if the Blues lost their concentration at the back, they were well shackled.  When Defoe did manage to find space, he was unfairly flagged offside but Martyn made the decision academic with a fine parry. Keane then found the back of the net, only to have that effort struck off for offside on both him and Defoe.

In between, Cahill had another, less convincing header saved as the home side went into the interval perhaps disappointed not to have made their 60-40 share of possession pay during the first 45 minutes.

Neither side made any changes at half time but the second half was only eight minutes old when the deadlock was broken completely against the run of play.  A short corner came back to Keane who crossed to the back post where Pamarot powered the header past Martyn.  It was the first goal Everton had conceded in some eight hours of league football.

While Spurs took heart from the surprise goal and introduced a more assured look to their play, Everton responded by upping the tempo and when Osman wriggled past his marker on the edge of the area and fired goalwards he was dismayed to see his shot bounce off the post where Kilbane couldn't react quickly enough to convert the rebound, Pamarot clearing his lines with the challenge.

After two successive corners came to nothing, Moyes decided to introduce Duncan Ferguson for the industrious Carsley.

Then a sickening studs-up challenge to the knee by Jamie Redknapp on Tim Cahill left the Australian writhing on the ground and the fans angered that the former Liverpool player only saw a yellow card brandished by the referee. Cahill was forced to leave the field as a result, Watson replacing him for the remaining 28 minutes.

The affair got even more heated when Defoe jumped in on Weir with both feet and was also shown only a yellow card.  Weir had to be restrained from registering his disapproval with more than just angry words.

Ferguson's presence had the predictable effect of channeling everything down the middle, the use of width that had been successful in the first half abandoned for the ineffective route-one strategy.  Moyes's attempt to rectify the situation was to introduce James McFadden for Pistone with 14 minutes left.

And the Scot's first touch resulted in him barreling straight through the Spurs defence but a poor touch just before he was about to shoot pushed the ball on to the sliding Robinson and the chance evaporated.  But the attacking ideas appeared to have dried up and Spurs played an effective game of containment to frustrate the home side.  It was epitomised by the worsening performance of Gravesen who was eventually booked for a poor tackle late on.

The match officials added four minutes of injury time for the various stoppages but it was Spurs who nearly grabbed a second with the last chance of the game when Keane engineered space for a shot but blazed over from 18 yards out.

Given our form in recent games, the optimism with which we approached this match and the manner in which we dominated the first half, this was an enormously disappointing result. If it had been masked by the heroics of the past few weeks, the crippling effect the lack of signings to bolster the attack before the transfer deadline will have was laid bare today.

Duncan Ferguson simply isn't a viable goalscoring option when the chips are down and the more headers he won in the final third this afternoon, the less effective they became.  With Bent tiring and appearing to experience some discomfort from his hamstrings again, it was left to the midfield to carry the attacking threat, something that became increasingly difficult as Spurs pulled men behind the ball and formed an impregnable rearguard.

Gravesen's desire to either make things happen or assume the departed Carsley's role of breaking up the Tottenham attacks evaoporated in the last third of the game and while Osman huffed and puffed, he was thwarted by the woodwork and an organised Spurs defence.  The same went for McFadden who was closed down at every opportunity, no doubt deepening his crisis of confidence.

If Everton play the way they did in the first half against Southampton and Norwich, they should come away from both games with victories that will put them back on track at the right end of the table.  But Moyes must take a long hard look at his attacking options and think seriously about the likes of Nick Chadwick as a striking alternative to Ferguson whose presence continues to bring out the worst in the Blues' play.

Lyndon Lloyd