Everton dig deep to vanquish Spurs in nine-goal Goodison thriller

A sumptuous goal by Bernard settled this sprawling odyssey of a cup tie in extra-time with Everton triumphing over Tottenham by a score of 5-4

Everton 5 - 4 Tottenham Hotspur

When the ninth and final goal of this sprawling odyssey of a cup tie flew past Hugo Lloris and Duncan Ferguson was leaping around on the touchline, channelling the emotions of a legion of Evertonians watching remotely on their screens, Carlo Ancelotti was the picture of calm. An arch of those famous eyebrows as he turned away and blew on a steaming beverage was the sum total of his reaction to a strike that, had it been in front of a packed house of 40-odd thousand fans, might well have taken the roof off the Grand Old Lady.

The much-travelled Italian cuts a reserved figure at the best of times (although he did pump an energised fist when his side took the lead at 2-1 seven minutes before half-time) but it's possible he wasn't at all sure that Bernard's impressively-taken half-volley in the 97th minute that made it 5-4 to Everton would be the end of the scoring.

After all, Jose Mourinho's Tottenham, who looked for long periods of this ridiculous, metronomic affair as though they might ultimately prevail, had fought their way back from 3-1 and 4-3 down to force extra-time and with their deeper substitute's bench and Harry Kane already pressed into action off it in the second half, few would have bet against them grabbing a fifth to send the match to penalties in the time that remained.

But since what was a pretty gutless display against Newcastle at the end of last month, this Everton team has been demonstrating the strength of its collective character and after their stoppage-time theatrics at Old Trafford four days ago, they outlasted a talented Spurs outfit in an even more gruelling game this evening despite losing the hero of that 3-3 draw against Manchester United, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, to injury just eight minutes into the second half.

The Blues would lose the lead soon afterwards as well to another shocking exhibition of pitiful set-piece defending but they never lost their spirit or their determination. 3-3 became 4-3 22 minutes from the end and though Harry Kane — who else? — would send the tie into extra-time, it was Ancelotti's men who carved out a wonderfully-crafted winner in the 97th minute.

They most certainly won as a team but this was a match with a few standout individual performances. Tom Davies has, in the context of Everton's medium- to long-term aspirations, looked surplus to requirements at times this season and the subject of conversations around potential loan or transfer destinations for longer than that.

Tonight, however, as against United a few days ago, the young Scouser stood tall with a terrific display of dogged and perceptive defensive-midfield work, strong tackling and purposeful forward movement. Questions could be asked of a couple of occasions, especially for Tottenham's fourth, where he stood off too far and allowed the cross to come in from the opposition's left but otherwise he barely put a foot wrong and it was fitting that it was he who won the last foul of the match as it entered a final added minute for stoppages.

After weeks of perplexingly below-par form, the Richarlison that Blues fans know and love burst back to life tonight and just at the right time. Where before he was clumsy and profligate with the ball and wayward with his shooting, here he scored two excellent goals, out-muscled and out-ran defenders, and weighed in with his usual defensive diligence where needed.

As good as Davies and Richarlison were — it would be remiss not to mention Seamus Coleman as well who was immense after he came on in the second half and Robin Olsen who kept Everton in it in the early stages — Abdoulaye Doucouré, with his pace, power, intelligence and indefatigable running was even better; an absolute machine across 120 minutes of action who was everywhere, knitting defence and attack together and he made a vital interception in the final third that helped create Calvert-Lewin's equaliser.

Then there was Gylfi Sigurdsson who would have been a universal shoo-in for Man of the Match had it not been for his atrocious defending for two Spurs corners that led to goals for Davinson Sanchez, the man he had been charged with marking. He more than atoned for his botched application of whatever Ancelotti's plans had been for defending dead-ball situations, though, by scoring a first-half penalty and then setting up three of Everton's goals. The fifth, of course, was the pick of his assists.

With James Rodriguez ruled out with a calf injury, Sigurdsson had come into the side and Alex Iwobi started wide on the right while Yerry Mina replaced Mason Holgate and Ben Godfrey switched to right back.

However, it was Spurs who came out of the traps with more purpose and within a minute of the first whistle they had forced the first of quite a few saves demanded of Olsen who was once again in goal with Jordan Pickford still nursing a rib injury.

The Swede dived to his right to palm aside a header from Eric Lamela off a Steven Bergwijn cross but he was left helpless three minutes later as Everton's zonal marking system utterly failed and with Sigurdsson rooted to the floor, Sanchez was allowed to rise unchallenged and nod home a corner from the Tottenham left.

Godfrey forced the first save of the evening from Hugo Lloris with a low drive from distance and the French keeper tipped a Calvert-Lewin effort onto the post as the home side started to find their attacking belief but it was Olsen who was kept the busier, parrying a powerful shot from Son Hueng-Min over his crossbar and then stopping Lamela's effort from distance after Mina had given the ball away with a poor header.

Another Son shot was deflected into Bergwijn's path but Olsen got behind it again while the South Korean's next drive took a heavy deflection off Michael Keane and looped narrowly over the crossbar as Spurs continued to look the more dangerous team.

However, after Mina headed a corner wide 10 minutes before the half-time break, Everton sparked a burst of three goals in seven minutes when Calvert-Lewin hammered in his 18th of the season via Lloris's gloves.

Quick movement from Doucouré saw him seize on a loose touch from Pierre-Emile Hà¸jbjerg and a quick interchange between Iwobi and Sigurdsson on the right flank ended with the Iceland international knocking the ball into Calvert-Lewin's path. The striker connected beautifully as it sat up perfectly, rifling a shot goal-wards that Lloris couldn't keep out to make it 1-1.

Two minutes later, Digne's headed lay-off from Sanchez's awkward header was heel-flicked skilfully to Richarlison by Calvert-Lewin and the Brazilian took a touch to his right before drilling through a defender's legs and into the bottom corner from 20 yards to make it 2-1.

Five minutes after that, when Hà¸jbjerg accidentally clipped Calvert-Lewin's heels as the striker went to collect a pass inside from the left flank, referee David Coote had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and after a check by Video Assistant Referee, Chris Kavanagh, Sigurdsson stepped up to coolly roll home the resulting penalty.

That should have seen the Toffees into the interval with a two-goal cushion but an awful lapse in concentration from Mina allowed the ball to slip by him in the box and Lamela was on hand to clip it past Olsen deep into injury time.

Everton's slender 3-2 lead felt more precarious when, just nine minutes into the second half, Calvert-Lewin had to be withdrawn with an apparent recurrence of his recent hamstring problem and was replaced by Coleman, a change that saw Richarlison move into a central attacking role and Iwobi switch to left midfield.

The lead would last only a couple of minutes longer and once again it was schoolboy defending at a corner from the same side as before that was the Toffees' undoing. Sigurdsson kept his attentions on Sanchez and not the ball which mean that when the set-piece was flicked on to the back post and Olsen could only get a hand to it, it was the Colombian who pounced, holding off the Everton man, stuck out as leg to stab it home and level things up at 3-3.

If there was a sense that the pendulum had swung in the direction of Spurs, Richarlison would ensure that the next blow was landed by the hosts. Sigurdsson played him in nicely between the lines and the Brazil international powered past his man before lashing a superb left-footed shot across the keeper and in off the far post from a tight angle.

Carlo Ancelotti replaced Iwobi with Bernard immediately afterwards and, predictably, it was Tottenham who pressed as the game moved into the final minutes of normal time and they kept exposing Everton's weaknesses from set-pieces.

Olsen punched one dead-ball delivery straight to Lamela but the Argentine couldn't keep his shot down and it flew over. At the other end, Bernard put the ball on a platter for Keane in front of goal but the defender could only steer his shot into Lloris's arms.

With 82 minutes gone, however, Everton's defence was breached again following yet another corner. Olsen's glancing fist on the ball ended up with Lamela again, his shot was headed off the line by Abdoulaye Doucouré but when Son collected the loose ball on the far side and was allowed to bend a cross to the back post, substitute Harry Kane was there unmarked to head in from close range.

Once more, with their deeper bench and their tails up at having made it 4-4 to force extra-time, Spurs might have felt the momentum was with them. And they came close to making it 5-4 five minutes into the first half when Kane cut in off the byline and fired from close range but he scuffed his shot enough that Olsen was able to bounce on it.

Two minutes later, Everton grabbed the deciding goal that finally broke Spurs's resilience and was one worthy of settling any tie, scored by a man who, had it not been for a deadline-day collapse in talks, would be in the United Arab Emirates right now instead of toasting a thrilling match winner. Bernard played a ball inside to Sigurdsson, he controlled it and then chipped deftly over the defence for the little Brazilian to track and then half-volley sweetly past Lloris with his left foot.

The Blues still found the energy to come close to padding their lead in the first minute of the second period of extra-time when Sigurdsson and Richarlison raced away on the counter-attack but the former ignored the latter and the goalkeeper beat away his shot.

Keane then dropped a header off a free-kick wide before Tottenham's last, desperate attacks yielded a direct free-kick for Kane that came back off the defensive wall and a couple of corners that were much better defended before the referee called time on an exhausting but victorious contest for Ancelotti's players.

Everton must wait 24 hours to find out whom they will face in the quarter-finals but with building levels of self-belief there is surely no team, with the possible exception of an fearsome-looking Manchester City, who they will fear at this point... although they will surely have to defend better now matter who they paired with.

Injuries to key players like James and Calvert-Lewin may yet prove to be roadblocks that will make the road to Wembley and/or the top four more challenging than it otherwise will be but just as important as keeping them fit will be successfully negotiating more routine opponents.

That means getting the business done against Fulham this weekend and Southampton at the end of the month; the Premier League matches in between against City and Liverpool offer more opportunities to show that they can take on pretty much anyone when they're truly in the mood.

Follow @EFCLyndon

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