Tottenham v Everton 5 March 2017

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Everton 2

Goal Scorers H Kane (20, 56), D Alli (90+2), R Lukaku (81), E Valencia (90+3)

Any Premier League match that is pencilled to kick off on a Sunday is always likely to attract a capacity crowd, and that was certainly the case when Tottenham took on Everton at 1:30pm on Sunday the 5th March 2017. The attendance was, as seems always the case at White Hart Lane these days, impressive at some 31,962.

With both teams and of course both sets of opposing supporters fancying their chances of getting all three points, this was always going to be a tight battle to the final whistle. What with both Tottenham Hotspur and Everton playing so well in recent weeks, it was never going to be an easy one to predict the outcome of. And so it proved to be.  Possession was edged 51%/49% to Spurs in a tight affair.

From early on in this match it was looking like a goal would not be far away and it certainly looked like the team who would score that goal would be Tottenham for they certainly did dominate the early stages of it from the kick off. Spurs were high on confidence and deservedly so judging from their very successful run of home matches this season.

In fact, Spurs fans did not have to wait very long for their hopes of yet another home win to be raised, for after 20 minutes Kane walloped in a stunning 25 yard strike to give the home team the lead.  That fairly early goal did then spur on both teams, with Everton not wanting to go down without a fight, and it was to be the only goal before that half time whistle blew, thanks in no small part to their defensive efforts.

When both teams took to the pitch after half time, the home side regained control of the match and began pushing forward with regularity. And it took just eleven minutes in the second half before Kane stepped up to the mark on the big occasion as usual by firing in his second goal.

Spurs held that 2-0 cushion for some period quite comfortably, until 25 minutes later that man Romelu Lukaku managed to take advantage of a rare Jan Verthonghen slip to reduce the goal deficit. But that goal did seem to ignite Tottenham once again and in particular Alli who soon got that goal back for Spurs in the second minute of stoppage time to make it 3-1.

In lightning fashion however Enner Valencia got a goal back for Everton in the third minute of stoppage time. However by that time it was far too late to hope for another miracle goal and as such the match finished with another well deserved, but very hard fought win for Tottenham.

Whilst Tottenham supporters did have to wait a while in a cagey affair early on, when Kane’s first strike came it did bring the match to life. It also went part of the way to earning him another Man of the Match winning performance in this crucial in for the hosts.  Next, they take on Millwall in the sixth round of the FA Cup.