Spurs 3 Everton 2
Kane 20 Kane 56 Lukaku 81 Dele Alli 91 Valencia 93
This was never close.
Everton were outplayed and outsmarted for 85 of the 95 minutes, so the Tottenham victory was more emphatic than I thought it would be.
And it was without Danny Rose!
When Harry Kane shaped to hit that ball in 19 min 25 seconds I was sure he was too far out.
I’m well aware that Kane is rugged, explosive, consistent – and faster than he looks. And I know what he can do in terms of scoring different types of goals, but I thought this was more than 25 yards and impossible.
Then he fired that unholy thunderbolt and the ball rocketed into the net and the fans went berserk. The crowd noise jumped right out of my TV.
Pochettino played 3-4-2-1 made it very,very hard for Everton.
Jan Vertonghen played his best game for two years and didn’t make a mistake till he fell backwards, allowing Lukaku to seize the only chance that came his way.
Dele Alli restored Tottenham’s control by zipping through onto a Winks free-kick.
Dele loves a flick, as you know.
Then Enner Valencia ran onto a ball that Aldeweireld missed and knocked it past Hugo Lloris in 93.
This was Everton’s first defeat in 10 games.
But, as I say, it wasn’t close.
It wasn’t close because the collective, organised physicality of Spurs did not allow Everton to do very much.
PS. In a recent game against Stoke, Kane won 4-0. He scored three goals and made the other.