Tottenham raced into a two-goal lead after just 18 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium thanks to goals from the in-form Richarlison, against his former club, and Heung-Min Son,
The hosts seemed to be in complete control as they led 2-0, however, after half an hour Everton managed to gain a firm foothold in the game.
Luckily for The Lilywhites, they caught Italian shot-stopper Guglielmo Vicario in fine form on Saturday afternoon. Had it have not been for him, then The Toffees may have come away with at least a point from the contest.
With the visitors chasing the game, Dominic Calvert-Lewin put the ball in the back of the net, but after Stuart Atwell was sent to the monitor for an on-field review, he quickly disallowed the goal. Andre Gomes set up a nervy ending with a thumping finish with eight minutes remaining, however it wasn't enough for Sean Dyche's men.
Unfortunately for the visitors, their four-game winning run in the Premier League came to an end, with only millimetres being the deciding factor as Arnaut Danjuma saw his effort denied by the use of goal-line technology in added time.
-
Vicario is the signing of the summer
Many Tottenham fans were in disbelief when the news broke that they wouldn't be signing David Raya in the summer window, and instead opted for the "cheaper option" in unknown Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Little did they know, just five months later, the former Empoli man would be a fan favourite and one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League by the halfway point of the season.
"Venom" has been the backbone to a Tottenham team that has been riddled with injuries in defence, losing Micky van de Ven to a long-term hamstring injury and Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie sporadically being suspended. At half time on Saturday, the Argentine had to be withdrawn with a hamstring injury, but it was Vicario and his seven saves that held it together to secure a victory in their final game before Christmas.
At just £17.2m, the signing has to go down as the bargain of the summer transfer window and arguably, even the ultimate signing of the window.
-
Everton mean business
It wasn't so long ago that Everton were brutally hit with the biggest sporting sanction in the 135-year history of English top flight football, in the shape of a ten point deduction by the Premier League after breaching financial fair play regulations. Sitting in 19th on just four points, a relegation battle was looming.
Fast forward just over a month, and The Toffees are well on their way up the table as they now sit on sixteen points, and are four points clear of the drop zone and are one of the most in-form sides in the division.
Sean Dyche has fully transformed The Blues, who are looking like a threat to those around them - with Calvert-Lewin and Dwight McNeil firing, and the formidable midfield of Abdoulaye Doucoure and Idrissa Gueye being backed up by a backline that includes James Tarkowski and Jordan Pickford.
In their previous four league games before the visit to North London, they had won all four, hitting eight goals in total whilst conceding nil up the other end of the pitch. If they can pick up some more of the same form that they had pre-Spurs, there is absolute no reason why they can't aim for a mid table finish this season.
-
Tottenham need reinforcements
The beginning of the winter transfer window is lurking and this will be a wonderful opportunity for newly-appointed Technical Director Johan Lange and his recruitment team, including Ange Postecoglou to bolster the options in Spurs' squad.
The Australian Head Coach had it all to deal with in the opening months of his reign, as the club sold record goalscorer Harry Kane just a day before the season commenced, however he didn't let it faze him as his side topped the table heading into November.
Since then, he's had a horrific injury crisis to deal with that has seen him lose key players such as Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur and James Maddison, just to name a few. Currently operating with a wafer thin squad, Ange even had to hand a debut to highly-rated 18-year old and academy prospect Jamie Conley during the 3-3 draw at the Etihad.
The availability issues aren't going anytime soon. Yves Bissouma still has to serve the final three games of his four match suspension, and then he'll jet off to the African Cup of Nations, so the chances of seeing him before February are incredibly slim.
Pape Matar Sarr will join up with the Senegal squad and the same goes for captain Heung-Min Son, who is off to the Asian Cup with South Korea. When coupled with the injury crisis, it's clear that there is work to be done in the transfer window.
There has already been plenty of rumours linking OGC Nice centre half Jean-Clair Todibo with a move to N17, whilst there is long-standing interest in Tosin Adarabioyo and Lloyd Kelly, according to reliable journalist Alaasdair Gold.
There are also question marks surrounding Conor Gallagher's future at Chelsea, with Tottenham plotting a winter move for the Englishman who has just eighteen months remaining on his current deal.
-
Andre Gomes can be crucial in midfield
Everton's forgotten man - Andre Gomes - was reinstated back into the match day squad fore the visit to the capital to take on Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.
Sean Dyche was forced to reshuffle the midfield in the absence of top scorer Abdoulaye Docuoure and when Idrissa Gueye went off injured in the first half, it was the Portuguese midfielder who was called upon to replace him.
Gomes spent the entirety of last season on loan in France, whilst he hasn't appeared in a match day squad since the opening day defeat to Fulham due to a calf injury, meaning the loss at Tottenham was his first appearance in a blue shirt since May 2022.
He has played three times for the u21's as part of his recovery, with his last appearance for the young Blues coming in midweek as he completed 90 minutes in a goalless draw with Feyenoord u21 in the Premier League International Cup.
The tough-tackling midfielder produced an eye-catching return for The Toffees, as he scored from just inside the penalty area and Dyche was full of praise for the former Barcelona man.
"We're very pleased for him. He's had a very tough time of it. I made it clear when came back to us in pre-season that I wanted him to be part of us and what we do," Dyche told reporters.
