With one win in nine Premier League games coming into the weekend and having slipped six points behind third-placed Chelsea and into seventh behind Arsenal following the Saturday programme, Everton knew that this encounter against fellow top-four hopefuls Tottenham was vitally important if they were to maintain any momentum in that chase for Champions League qualification.
Up until five seconds from the end of the regulation 90 minutes, however, it was a game that had threatened to provide the latest, and perhaps the most jarring and lasting, of the succession of reality checks that the Blues have been handed over the last few weeks. Frustration, a watchword for the campaign thus far, was again the prevailing emotion as David Moyes's side tried in vain to break down Spurs' stubborn back line.
Over the course of the match the Blues only shaded the share of possession but they created the greater share of the chances only to then fall behind, seemingly catastrophically, in cruel fashion via a deflection off Clint Dempsey's speculative 76th-minute strike. That was that, then. Dreams of the top four temporarily shelved. Tottenham, too, would move six points away and Evertonians would be forced to concede, having seen Kevin Mirallas forced off prematurely again after feeling twinges in his hamstring, that there just isn't sufficient depth, quality or, perhaps, even belief in the squad to carry them on to Europe's elusive gravy train.
But then suddenly, incredibly, magically, in the space of two of the game's dying minutes, Moyes's men wrenched victory from the jaws of defeat and three points from their stunned London visitors with two goals. There can be no better way than to win a match — that lightning transfer from dejection to elation really has no equal and it ensured that Everton leapt back into the top-four, displacing Spurs and West Bromwich Albion on goal difference.
With Mirallas back in the starting line-up, Moyes was able to name what could well be his strongest starting XI. Fans could no doubt debate Tony Hibbert's defensive merits over those of the less experienced Seamus Coleman and argue which duo permed from Phil Jagielka, Sylvain Distin and John Heitinga is the best but this was a strong side facing a Tottenham outfit that really appeared to have found their stride in recent games.
Indeed, Andre Villas-Boas exhibited no small measure of confidence by deploying a two-man strike-force of Jermaine Defoe and Emanuel Adebayor and the Portuguese's side enjoyed a comfortable amount of possession in a goalless first half. For all their passing amongst themselves, though, they offered little threat to Tim Howard's goal.
Instead it was Everton who made the better of their time with the ball, signalling their intentions early on with some inventive, probing moves that might have seen them open the scoring during the first 45 minutes. That they didn't, though, owed much to the all-too-familiar final ball with which they would themselves down time and again over the course of the game.
That wasn't true early on when Steven Pienaar cushioned a header to Leon Osman in the box but his shot was blocked by a defender or when Jagielka released Jelavic with a perfectly-weighted through-ball but Hugo Lloris raced off his line and pushed the ball away as the Croatian tried to take it around him. But when Jelavic got round the back of the defence to cut the ball back from the byline, he couldn't find a Blue jersey. And when Mirallas raced onto an excellent ball over the top a minute later that caught the visitors out-numbered at the back, his attempt to set Jelavic up right in front of goal fell behind the striker and William Gallas scrambled it behind.
At the other end, Moussa Dembele's ambitious effort from distance was comfortably gathered by Howard and later Marouane Fellaini charged down a shot from the edge of the box by Sandro as Spurs were restricted to long-range efforts by an Everton rearguard that looked in particularly obstinate mood. Indeed, Distin and Jagielka were excellent throughout in the centre and Coleman barely put a foot wrong all afternoon himself.
So it was left to the home side to finish the first half the stronger, with Osman flashing the ball agonisingly across the face of goal when he looked a good bet to perhaps creep it inside the far post and then seeing a potentially goalbound shot blocked superbly by Caulker. In between back-to-back penalty claims were waved away by referee Kevin Friend — the first, correctly as the ball hit Dempsey on the shoulder; the second should arguably have been awarded as it struck Gallas' arm — and Mirallas ended a mesmerising run across the penalty area (an exertion that probably ended his afternoon) with a weak shot as he ran out of steam.
The Belgian was replaced by Steven Naismith at the interval and the difference in quality was starkly apparent, although the Scot could have made himself an instant hero when a scuffed Leighton Baines shot arrived at his feet just a couple of yards from goal but he couldn't react quickly enough and his contact was a mere glance that helped the ball on its way past the far post.
Jelavic's quick feet then engineered space for a shot that was blocked and Fellaini planted a header off Darron Gibson's deep cross straight at the goalkeeper but, in the main, the openings that the Blues had been crafting in the first half became fewer and farther between as the second period wore on. Nevertheless, Osman twice came close to breaking the deadlock but was denied by a low, one-handed save by Lloris before he despatched a side-foot effort from Baines' cut-back narrowly over the bar.
Spurs weren't offering much more themselves, though Sandro gave the Blues a brief scare when his heavily deflected shot looped wide and Vertongen stung Howard's hands with a fierce free kick, and you got the growing feeling that the two teams were going to cancel themselves out to a 0-0 draw.
That all changed, though, with 15 minutes left and Dempsey unleashed a hopeful attempt from 25 yards that took a decisive touch off Distin's out-stretched boot and looped ominously over Howard's desperate palm before nestling in the back of the Everton net.
Moyes responded by withdrawing Osman in favour of Apostolos Vellios and, with one of the midfield link men now gone and the desperate Blues seemingly out of ideas, it became a case of just pumping it forward and hoping for something to break. Even then, the game was very nearly put to bed with five minutes to go when substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson tried to curl an excellent shot under Howard's crossbar from the edge of the area but the ball thumped off its face and was cleared.
When the Tottenham defence failed to deal with one of those hopeful balls forward by Jagielka in the 90th minute, however, Naismith nipped in to knock the ball out to meet Coleman's run into the box from the right flank. The Irishman seemed to have taken the wrong option by clipping his cross behind all the Blue shirts descending on goal, but Pienaar was alive to the opportunity and came steaming in to meet it with a rare header that took one bounce and flew past Lloris' hands to level the game up in dramatic fashion.
Four minutes of additional time offered hope of an improbable winner and when Coleman cleared his lines with a punt towards Vellios which Caulker rose to head into touch, the Goodison faithful raised the volume in support of one more push towards victory. Gibson collected Coleman's throw-in and didn't even look up before arcing the ball into the box where Vellios provided the crucial knock-on with an overhead kick and Jelavic sneaked between two white shirts to sweep it home in one fluid movement before racing off to be mobbed by supporters at the front of the Gwladys Street stand.
A thrilling conclusion to a match that for so long looked as though it was going to encapsulate the frustrations of the season so far.
The goals were sweet for their scorers for differing reasons. For Pienaar, it no doubt offered some personal vindication after his unsuccessful stint at White Hart Lane where he never did get the chance to show what he is capable of. Tottenham's loss was Everton's gain once more and though the South African still wasn't at the top of his game today, he is still performing better than was the case a few games ago.
Jelavic, meanwhile, has come under a fair degree of criticism, much of harsh and undeserved to these eyes; like a succession of strikers before him, most notably Yakubu, the Croatian has had to shoulder the blame for the lack of goals despite suffering from a chronic lack of service. Today he worked his backside off chasing defenders down, scampering into space and when his one clear-cut chance arrived in the dying embers of a closely-fought game he buried it with a trademark first-time finish.
What he sometimes lacks in approach play is more than compensated for by the kind of instinct and movement in the six-yard box that you just can't teach. Analysis of the replays of his winning goal, one that ends a four-match barren spell, shows that he is gliding behind two markers and preparing to steal between them into the anticipated path of the ball before Vellios even makes contact; his quick-footed finish executed with a split-second's notice as it dropped in front of him.
Like the Sunderland game before it, one that was turned on its head in similarly quick fashion, this could prove to be a massive result for Everton. In terms of points and league placing, its effect is obvious but the injection of confidence it could bring might also be just as important as the Blues continue through a tricky December programme. Stoke City's stingy defence will prove an enormously tough nut to crack in their next outing but, as they showed to day, Everton can produce match-winning quality when they need it no matter who the oppposition is.
Man of the match: Nikica Jelavic (with a nod to Darron Gibson who was excellent)
Author
The first good chance of the game fell to Osman but he missed it. Then a great cross in from Gibson after more good work by Coleman, but Jelavic could not keep his shot away from the Spurs keeper Lloris.
Jelavic then ran on to a good ball and forced Lloris out to stretch and push it off his toe, bringing him down in the process, and forcing the requisite chorus of screams for a penalty... but it never was.
Gibson fouled after an absolutely dreadful pass from Osman, giving the ball way, resulting a very dangerous free-kick but Dempsey fired it straight at Howard.
Coleman, with loads of time and space on the right but his cross was hopeless, straight at Vertonghen. Then Jelavic caught a long ball well, a long diagonal; pass from Gibson, but his ball back was really poor, missing all the incoming Everton players.
Mirallas then did brilliantly to get behind the Spurs defence but Jelavic overran it and a defender was able to deny him at the cost of a corner that came to nothing. It was end-to-end stuff with Spurs getting forward as well, and winning a corner after Fellaini lost possession, and Everton could not clear the ball until Baines had loads of time and overhit it.
Baines did well to break up a very promising Spurs move as the Blues came under some pressure.but Coleman got forward again only to lash a silly shot well wide under no pressure.
Another good move, Mirallas, to Osman to Pienaar, but the South African also chose to shoot, wide. Mirallas was having a fine time down the right, perhaps on occasions trying to do too much.
Slow build-up play by Everton allowed Spurs to block progress but Coleman won a corner, swung in by Pienaar that Fellaini was adjudged to have headed behind.
Defoe was rightly yellow-carded for walking toward Baines as he was preparing to take a free-kick that was easily defended away. Coleman got away again, and Vertonghen blatantly took him out. After plenty of discussion and protest, the Spurs defender was rightly booked but Gibson's free-kick was headed away by the Spurs defence.
Fellaini played on Osman who did well to get to the byline but didn't look up to see where Jelavic was, and he had held back, awaiting the wrong ball, which was played past Lloris, right across he gaping goal. Some really poor passing forced Baines to make a very late tackle on Baines that could have been red if Lennon had forced it, but didn't (to his credit): yellow for Baines.
A very dodgy-looking handball by Dempsey, trying to control a bouncing ball in the Spurs area was correctly ignored by referee Friend as Dempsey controlled the ball with his shoulder, not his arm — no penalty. Then another massive penalty shout, also correctly adjudged to be invalid, as Pienaar blasted a shot at Gallas who was turning his body, but the Goodison crowd were seething with rage at the glaring injustice of i all.
From the ensuing Baines corner, Fellaini got the ball goalwards but it was defended off the line, and the referee came in for a torrent of visceral abuse from the Goodison faithful, convinced that yet again, they had been denied three good penalty calls.
A huge disappointment as Naismith replaced Mirallas after the break. Osman was cut down by Sandro. Baines sent the ball into the wall then got to through to Naismith at the far post were he was perfectly positioned to fire home and he totally fluffed his lines when he should have scored easily (although possibly offside).
Jelavic then did well to conjour a chance but his shot was blocked, as Spurs withstood the Everton onslaught, getting forward themselves, eventually seeing Sandro shoot wide, deflected, two Spurs corners being defended. Fellaini misplayed his forward ball for Jelavic, then Gibson caught Dembele as he was about to pull the trigger and was lucky to escape a card. Howard saved the hard deflected shot from Vertongen very well. as Everton came under more pressure from more corners.
Another good opportunity to cross for Coleman but it again looked to be just swung in the general direction without picking anyone out. Some brilliant stuff from Fellaini in the left corner but the final ball again let Everton down. More nice play in the same corner of the field ended with Pienaar scooping it behind.
Coleman had been running at the Spurs defence all game, and won a free kick that Baines swung in deep onto Fellaini's head but his soft header was saved by Lloris. Dembele won a very soft free-kick off a shoulder barge from Naismith. As the game entered its final third, Everton looked increasingly less likely to score, despite Baines laying the ball back nicely for Osman who fired over instead of under the Spurs bar.
Osman got yellow for a late tackle on Walker. More deliberative buildup finally saw Osman shoot on target but Lloris pushed it away at a stretch.
Out of nothing, Dempsey's shot deflected off Distin's foot and over Howard into the corner of the net and suddenly, Spurs had the three points in the bag, as Everton would now have to do what they had failed to do despite trying everything they could.
More good passing until that final ball, this time Fellaini playing in a useless cross all too easily cut out. Then Coleman passed behind Naismith and the Blues attack broke down. The next build-up ended with a goalkick, Osman making way for Vellios as Moyes presumably thought 4-4-4-2 was now the required approach, but without Osman's supposed creative prowess and Fellaini, leading goalscorer, dropping deep...
Everton tried the long ball, which Vellios won, but directed his header to no-one, while at the other end, Sigurdsson smacked one over Howard and onto the Park End crossbar. Everton struggled to get forward, having tried everything they were capable of in this game, but there was one more chance and it finally cam e right on 90 mins, Coleman's cross picking out Pienaar who powered a header past Lloris. 1 - 1.
Then, a speculative ball into the area headed forwar by Vellios and there was Jelavic, the consummate predator, nipping in behind the defender to clip the ball brilliantly past Llris!!! a fantastic finish, a fantastic piece of poaching, a second goal in 88 seconds,. Four minutes of added time nearly over, and Jelavic was then withdrawn to a fantastic ovation, Heitinga coming on with clock passing 94 minutes.
There was a late Spurs flurry, but the whistle finally went! Victory from the jaws of defeat! Everton up into 4th over Spurs in this massive six-pointer.
Michael Kenrick
Just one win in nine Premier League matches now, an average of one goal a game in their last four, and Nikica Jelavic on his longest goalless stretch since joining the club back in January. And yet going into what is a vital game against a top-four rival in the form of Tottenham, Everton sit three points off Chelsea in third and are right in the thick of the Champions League race.
Unbeaten at home and with a slew of draws under their belts in the first 15 games of the season, the Blues have kept pace with the clutch of clubs who have their eye on Europe despite an iffy patch of form where they have let themselves down by not fully capitalising on winning positions. The top half of the table may have become very tight as a result — only four points separate 12th from 6th — but David Moyes's side remain well-positioned.
Their hopes of Champions League qualification will continue to be tested throughout the December programme, with tricky, back-to-back away games at Stoke and West Ham and a home game against Chelsea at the end of the month still to come. But they can make a statement, both to themselves and their rivals, with victory over in-form Spurs this weekend.
After a rocky start, Andre Villas-Boas appears to have steadied the ship down at the White Hart Lane, with his side on the roll in the Europa League and on a three-match winning streak in the Premier League, the latter having propelled them past Everton and into fourth place last week.
The Blues, though, having survived stern tests against Arsenal and Manchester City in the last 10 days, will feel as though they can take on anyone, particularly if, as is hoped, Kevin Mirallas is able to play some part after recovering from a hamstring injury.
The Belgian has been back in training for over a week now but Moyes said in his pre-match press conference that he and fellow recent absentee, Seamus Coleman, have only an "outside chance" of playing. The manager has made a habit of playing his cards close to his chest with the press in recent weeks, though, and Evertonians wil be hoping this is more of the same and that Mirallas will play.
If he does — and barring any late surprises, of course — Moyes could potentially field what many feel is his strongest line-up; with Tony Hibbert at right back, Darron Gibson in central midfield, Mirallas on the right and the red hot Marouane Fellaini playing off Jelavic up front.
Perhaps the only debate would concern his best central defensive pairing, with Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin appearing to shade the argument over any combination involving John Hietinga in the Blues' most recent outings.
Spurs will likely be without four first-team players when they come to Goodison for the first time since they lost 1-0 to Jelavic's goal in February. Gareth Bale pulled a hamstring at Fulham last weekend and is ruled out alongside Michael Dawson and neither Scott Parker nor Benoit Assou-Ekotto will be ready.
But, as always, they have depth in midfield so Villas-Boas should have no problems replacing them and, in Jermaine Defoe, he has one of the top flight's most in-form strikers who has 13 goals in all competitions. Keeping him quiet will be high among Moyes's priorities, as will ensuring that his team maintains momentum throughout the 90 minutes and doesn't allow Spurs to get into any attackin rhythm or hit them on the counter-attack.
Victory wouldn't just bring the Blues level on points with this weekend's opponents — it would also provide a massive boost in confidence and self-belief to a side that has found it hard to win games over the last couple of months despite still leading the league in shots on goal.
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