Is it too early for a Tottenham crisis? To which the answer is surely that it is never too early for a Tottenham crisis. After four Premier League games, they have yet to score. This kind of run has never happened in their history at the beginning of a league season.
At least they mustered a couple of shots on target this time, having failed to do so last weekend in the 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest. The first – from Mateus Fernandes – at the start of the second half was greeted by ironic cheers from the South Stand. It has certainly not been what the club expected when they spent £300m on overhauling the squad in the summer.
Spurs were anxious, they lacked certainties – apart from the one about how they were never going to score. They were fortunate that Everton, who remain defiantly unbeaten, did not do so at the other end. David Moyes’s team had big chances in the second half through Thierno Barry, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and the former Spurs winger, Brennan Johnson. Everton defended superbly, albeit they were helped by Tottenham’s bluntness, and were full value for the draw. They probably deserved to win.
Spurs have won only one league game at home this year – in do-or-die circumstances against Everton on the final day of last season. Going back to November 2024, their record in the competition here reads: P35 W5 D10 L20. As Everton savoured the result with their fans at full time, the Spurs crowd turned to a familiar soundtrack: a burst of booing.
It was difficult not to remember the game here last season when Spurs won 1-0 to stay up. Defeat and they would have been relegated. It was an extraordinarily nervy occasion for them, all the way to the last knockings of stoppage time. The pessimistic edge about the home support has not gone away. Far from it. You could hear it before kick-off. ‘Good luck? Yeah, we’ll need it.’ That sort of thing. A major part of the mission was to try to tear down the psychological barriers. They failed.
There was hope, too. It always bubbles somewhere in the background. And Spurs did start well, pressing on to the front foot, moving the ball quickly. Rodrigo Bentancur imposed himself. Savio was a ball of pace and tricks. There was a statistic beforehand that rated Tottenham as the worst team in the league for the quality of chances created. What could they do with their possession against an Everton defence that knows how to stifle? It was the question that pounded.
Everton travelled with confidence after good results in their opening fixtures. Their squad is alarmingly thin. But they have enough at this point of the season and the fallout from that disastrous transfer deadline day appears to have bonded the squad. Everton were the second worst team on the chance quality index but they were always likely to be measured by how well they defended.
Spurs pushed for the first half of the first period, albeit the pickings in front of goal were slim. Jan Paul van Hecke banged a half volley high from a tight angle at the far post after an Andy Robertson free-kick and that would go down as their only chance of the opening 45 minutes. There was a stumble from Fernandes inside the area after a nice ball up through the lines from Van Hecke which summed things up for them. The anxiety transmitted itself to the crowd and bounced back.
James Garner worked Antonin Kinsky with a free-kick at the end of the first half, which went down as the first shot on target. When Fernandes mustered his from distance in the 47th minute, it was met with that sarcasm.
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Everton were more proactive after the restart. They fed off the Spurs nerves. They threatened to get in behind. Tyrique George did beat Archie Gray, who stood in for the injured Pedro Porro at right-back; Roberto De Zerbi was also without Destiny Udogie through injury at left-back. George’s cross picked out Barry at the far post and his header hit Kinsky before flying off target. The goalkeeper knew little about it. George also had a blast that hit Bentancur.
Tottenham came to be undermined by terrible errors on the ball. There were so many passes that were woefully off target, including one from Kinsky that he sent straight to Dewsbury-Hall on the edge of his area. Kinsky made amends with a smart block. Dewsbury-Hall cursed the passing up of a golden opportunity.
Everton were the likelier team to score. Spurs battled the internal demons. There were cross words between some of their players, Omar Marmoush overtaken by frustration at one point. Johnson blew his chance on 75 minutes, lifting high after a Dewsbury-Hall tee-up.
Spurs had one flicker at the very end after Jordan Pickford sent a poor clearance straight to James Maddison, who had come on as a substitute. Spurs moved it to another replacement, Lucas Bergvall, and his low drive worked Pickford. It was a comfortable save. Everton were exactly that.
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