Looking Forward

Everton  (Away)

Premier League

Saturday 17th April 2006

A trip to Everton, with our record against them since the Premier League started should be a bit of a foregone conclusion.  However, as we know, things never quite go to plan.

A really bad start left Everton playing catch up and although they have moved to a safe position in the table, they have failed to score many goals and with no chance of European football next season (outside of qualifying through the InterToto) they seemingly have little to play for on the surface of it.  With David Moyes in charge that will never be the case and he will have them geed up to face Spurs and being at home they will want to put on a good show for their supporters.

The lack of quality signings and with injury hitting his side, Moyes has struggled to replicate last season's success of finishing fourth to gain Champions League football for the Toffees.  The real problem has come with lack of a regular goal-scorer.  It is only the returning James Beattie with 10 who is in double figures and many of those are penalties, following a rocky start with a sending off and then injury.  Duncan Ferguson is used as a target man, but his temper has got the better of him this season and his sending off at Wigan might prove the final straw for the club.  He usually proves troublesome in terms of an aerial threat, but whether he will feature is doubtful.  James McFadden often plays up alongside another striker, but his main role is as a left sided winger, but he has shown he can score a spectacular goal and Moyes will be looking for him to develop this side of his game.  Unfortunately, the Premier League's youngest goal-scorer John Vaughan will not be involved, as he is recovering from career saving surgery by Dr. Steadman in the USA.

The defence has long been Everton's strength that they have built on.  Old stagers David Weir and Alan Stubbs are still there in the centre of the defence, while Tony Hibbert and Joseph Yobo both give options outside them.  Gary Naysmith can play in either full back slot, but has been out of favour for some time, but necessity has caused him to be pressed into use.  Yobo suffered from lack of concentration in his early days and he seems to have pulled his game together now, with rumours that Arsenal are interested in him now.  Quick and strong in the air, he also gets to the other end of the pitch to provide a threat from set-pieces.  Hibbert is a solid defender, but he might find Lennon's pace difficult, as he ahs racked up nine yellow cards already this season, indicating that his tackling is not always well timed, although he has committed 28 fouls and been fouled 39 times.  It might be a job for the little twins up front, with both Stubbs and Weir happy to handle the big man in attack, while the movement, trickery and pace of Defoe and Keane might cause them a variety of different problems.  The defence will be missing Nuno Valente, Matteo Ferrari and Alessandro Pistone who are all injured, leaving the number of players available for selection limited.

Big January signing Andy Van der Meyde will be missing after his straight red card in the Merseyside derby and Mikel Arteta is also out with an ankle injury picked up in training.  But Lee Carsley is back to offer some busy work in midfield and his effort will be needed to keep the Tottenham quartet contained.  Tim Cahill is a hard-working Aussie who will try to get into the Spurs box as often as he can to add to his six goals already this season.  His movement often takes him into the area on late runs, but he is another who might need to watch his temper as sometimes, he gets involved in issues which don't necessarily involve him.  Ex-Man U man Phil Neville also offers bite in midfield and a controlled use of the ball, but he has his moments in fling into tackles.  Leon Osman has bounced back after a plateau in his career after a cracking start and despite the Premier League Dubious Goals Panel taking two goals away from him, he gets in the positions to score from midfield and will need to be tracked.  Kevin Kilbane is a loping wide midfielder, who possesses a fine shot, but it is his crossing which will be required from the front two to provide the chances to get the precious goals they need.  Finally, former Spurs man Simon Davies has failed to make the impact Moyes might have hoped for since his move from White Hart Lane.  Always a willing runner and someone who can finish should he get in a forward position, Simon can be a good man to have in your side, although he has started only 24 of 33 games this season.  If he features, I am sure he will want to do well against us.

Problems have hit the goalkeeping department to such an extent that Everton had to apply to the PL to get Sander Westerveld on loan from Portsmouth after injury struck down Nigel Martyn and Richard Wright with rookie Iain Turner found himself going back to the dressing room after just nine minutes of his debut against Blackburn, bringing another youngster John Ruddy into the action.  Westerveld played a couple of games, but Wright, the ex-Gooner has since regained the gloves and can be expected to take his place between the sticks for this match.  Big and a good shot stopper, his handling is suspect, both on crosses and holding onto shots.  If Mido plays, he could disturb Wright's confidence in coming for crosses and other players will need to follow in on shots fired at Wright.

Spurs have been stuttering a bit but their performance against Manchester City was a whole lot better and another performance of that nature will be needed to win this game.  In this instance, I think it might be that their opponents battling spirit will cause Spurs difficulties in breaking them down and while everything has been going Spurs' way up until now, I have a hunch that this might end in a draw ...

PREDICTION : -   Everton  1   Tottenham Hotspur  1

For more information on the opponents and their history, including full result history of matches between the two teams, click here.

Coverage

TV :
Match of the Day  -  Saturday  22.20-23.40 (highlights)
Match of the Day  -  Sunday  08.35-10.00 (highlights) ... repeat
Match of the Day 2  -  Sunday  22.00-22.50 (highlights)
Sky Sports 1 - Saturday - 20.25  -  Football First (full game for digital viewers from 20.25) ... highlights if selected as a featured match from 22.15
Sky Sports 1 - Goals on Sunday  -  Sunday 10.00-11.30 (highlights)
For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here.

Radio :  
BBC LONDON 94.9FM - Live commentary

If available on BBC radio, it can be heard in these countries on these stations ...
Australia (Melbourne) SEN  -  116 AM  Live Transmissions: TWI, Saturday. 12.45 & 1500 matches
Australia (Syndey)  Radio 2  -  1611AM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 12.45 Match
Singapore Media Corp Radio  -  93.8 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
South Africa  SABC (Radio 2000)  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
Uganda  Radio 1 (English) 90.0 FM, Radio 2 (Lugandan) 87.9 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
North America (USA, Canada, Mexico, Carribean)  Sirius Satellite Radio  Live transmission: Saturday - 12.45, 15.00 (TWI) & 17.15 (BBC) Sunday - 14.00 & 16.05 (BBC) Mon, Tue, Wed - Various times (BBC)

Internet :
www.spurs.co.uk   Live webcast  - subscribers only
Planet football - http://play.www.planetfootball.servecast.net/downloads/sky/spurs-pl04-kean0.ram (free - only available when match is on) ... this link has not been working in recent weeks and therefore there is no guarantee it will be webcasting.

Wright

Naysmith (Kilbane 85)
Yobo
Stubbs (Ferrari 59)
Carsley

Davies (Ferguson 66)
Cahill
Neville (c)
Osman

Beattie
McFadden

Unused subs: 
Weir
Turner

Robinson

Stalteri
Gardner
King (c) (Davids 90)
Lee

Lennon (Davenport 82)
Carrick
Jenas
Tainio (Murphy 46)

Keane
Defoe

Unused subs: 
Cerny
Barnard

None

Tottenham Hotspur

Keane (pen) 34

   
Carsley (foul) 10
Neville (foul) 38  

   
Gardner (retaliation) 38
    

From the start, Tottenham played with pass and accurate passing that caused the ponderous Everton defence problems all afternoon.  When Keano chased down Naysmith's back header, it was almost like Defoe's hassling of Koszczak in the Albion game, but Wright's sliced clearance went safe.  With Defoe alongside him, it was a shrewd move by Jol to put them up against the tall, but slow of foot Yobo and Stubbs and with Lennon on the right tormenting Naysmith, the Toffees defence had a sticky time.

As expected, the home side, were not going to take this game laying down, but the tackle by Carsley nearly cut Gardner in half and a yellow was the least he should have expected.  I am not sure what Anthony had done to upset Everton, as Neville also went straight through him later in the game and the Tottenham central defender's reaction got him a yellow card to go with the former Man U man's.  The first efforts on goal came from Everton, with Beattie, who had a good game, firing in a long range free-kick which Jeans headed away, then Osman hit a volley wide of the target from a good cross in by McFadden.

Tottenham's first go at goal came after 18 minutes, when Carrick threaded a ball to Lennon, who sped past Naysmith and his cross to Gardner at the far post saw our defender jump too early and lose the chance to get any power on it.  It was an opening that deserved a better finish and the looping header made for an easy save for Wright, as was the save from Keane a couple of minutes later when he hit a cleared corner without catching it cleanly.  Spurs started to push on the Everton goal coming up to the half-hour and when Lennon easily left Naysmith, his near post cross found Tainio diving in and the header was blocked by Wright, but the Finn took a blow on the head from Yobo that kept him out of the second half.  A minute later, Lennon almost forced Cahill to put a clearance into his own net when he let the ball run through his legs and bamboozled Naysmith once more.  From the resulting corner, the ball fell to Ledley in the six yard box, but he could not connect with it properly and the chance was gone.

The next time the bal went into the Everton penalty area, it ended in a Spurs goal.  Robbie Keane latched onto Lee's square ball and as he was about to shoot, Alan Stubbs cut him down.  The ball ran on to Jermaine Jenas who struck it into the net, but the official had already blown for a spot-kick and even though the ball had to be replaced on the spot, Keane showed admirable poise to put it beyond Wright's reach to net the goal.

The gap between the sides could have been two goals by the break, as Gardner rose at the far post to head back a corner, but although Jenas got to the ball with his head, he could not get it on target from eight yards.

Danny Murphy appeared for Tainio after the interval and he played a part in making sure the ball stayed at the right end of the pitch from Tottenham's point of view.  The expected surge from Everton at the start of the half saw a cross in that Ledley had to hack away, but the threat did not really materialise, leaving Tottenham to push up again.  Breaking from the previous incident, Jenas was put through by Defoe through on his own and looked like he would score, but despite a firm, well-placed shot, Wright made a very good save to keep it out.  With the home defence under pressure, Naysmith tried to be too clever and chest back a cross to Wright, but it hit him in the face and Defoe was on it in a flash, but again the keeper did well to touch the ball aside as he got close to the Spurs striker.

Robinson in the Spurs goal was rarely troubled and he watched Cahill's long shot go wide from a long way out, but also looked on as Defoe took the ball into the Everton half, fed Murphy who, in turn, played it onto Keane.  The midfielder was a bit miffed in not getting the ball back, as Keano struck a curling shot over the top and he felt he was better placed to have a shot on goal.  There was one scare for Spurs and that came in the 59th minute, when Osman passed through to Beattie and he hit the net (figuratively speaking as it only just crossed the line), but the flag had been raised for some time to signal him offside.

Simon Davis had put in lots of effort, but the rest of the side had not matched that and his play seemed to lack the confidence he had when at Tottenham.  Perhaps chasing players is not his forte, as he tried to get back at Keane, when Lee put him through, but Robbie's finishing failed to beat Wright on this occasion.  Then it was his partner's turn with Naysmith just getting in a tackle as Jermain was about to hit the ball goalwards.  With a quarter of an hour to go, Defoe did get a shot away, but his curling shot from the edge of the penalty area hit the underside of the bar and bounced back in front of the goal and went safe.  It perhaps sums up Jermain's luck at the moment, with nothing going his way in front of Sven up in the stands.

Ten minutes from time, Martin decided to do something about the lack of a second goal, which would have secured the points for Spurs and he took Lennon off to bring Calum Davenport on in a five man defence.  Seeing as the team have thrown away some late goals this season and with Duncan Ferguson brought on to add a more physical presence in the home side's attack, it was not a bad idea, but with more players in the mix, it did seem to make things a little more uncertain in the back line.  A couple of times, crosses into the area were not attacked as they should have been by the Tottenham defence.  To counter the extra man back, Moyes changed Naysmith for Kilbane, but he failed to do much damage and only a free-kick on the edge of the box on 90 minutes might have jeopardised the three-point haul, but Carsley struck it against the wall.  The only worry for Spurs was Ledley King, who appeared to pick up a leg injury and was left limping after a clash with Ferguson and he was replaced at the death by Davids and Spurs returned to a 4-4-2 line-up for the last few seconds.

With a fine performance like this, it leaves you wondering where Tottenham would be sitting in the table had they put in some displays like this in other away games this season.  Everton could not live with the pace of the game or the speed of the breakaways Tottenham maintained and Jol was right in that Spurs should have won by three goals.  Keeping that style up for the remaining four matches will be tough considering some of the teams we face, but it will be necessary if the club want to achieve their aim of European football.

MEHSTG TOP MAN : -  JERMAINE JENAS

However, that would leave us the rather difficult task of beating both Bolton and West Ham, to make sure of our position.  Realistically, we'll draw the Bolton game and narrowly defeat West Ham, hoping that Arsenal have a similar or worse run.

Yesterday's game was something of a surprise, yet it shouldn't have been.  Since the Premiership began, back in August 1992, Everton have only beaten us twice, so one might say we're their bogey team.  Every team has one, God knows that we know all about that, so it's nice to be Everton's.  We took six points off them last season and have now taken another six but I'm surprised at how easy it was.  Everton have been in good form lately and a few weeks ago, I was calling this a tough fixture.  From the little I saw and the much I heard, we outclassed them completely.  A friend of mine, an ardent Everton fan who was at Goodison, texted me to say that Spurs should've been 0-4 up before half-time, yet most of our best chances came in the
second-half ! 

Gardner was again the only question mark, as Stalteri and Lee both enjoyed an assured afternoon, while the King was imperious.  Robbo didn't have much to do and I don't recall seeing him make a save.  The only
trouble he had was their disallowed goal, where it looked as though Robbo thought it'd counted for a moment.  Carrick played his usual tidy game in front of the back four, but he's no Makelele or Vieira, so must get off his high horse and sign a new contract, otherwise bugger off and let Huddlestone have a crack at that holding role.  Tainio retained his place ahead of Davids (hopefully rejuvenated) and started well, going close with a diving header, before going off at the interval.  If the flying Finn doesn't recover in time, Jol would do worse than to give a start to Danny Murphy, who replaced Tainio and looked sharp.  Some of his passing was exquisite and requisite, reminiscent of his better days at Liverpool.  He also has a decent record against Man Utd, so I say he should get the nod over Davids.

Jenas had one of his best ever games for Spurs, according to the News Of The World, and my mate up North.  From what I saw, he was doing a lot of running off the ball and on, getting into good positions and nearly scoring.  More of the same please, Jermaine, and another free-kick like the one at Old Trafford, thank you sir.

I understand that little Lennon was again outstanding, tearing up the flanks and giving Naysmith a torrid time.  The watching Sven (or was he?) would be wise to give Lennon a place in the squad, perhaps at the expense of SWP, who's not had a good season and is in and out of the Chelski team.  The Lennon situation is interesting because I actually got to watch his team-mate, Wayne Routledge, over 90 minutes due to the horrendous Match Choice on Sky Sports.  They showed the Pompey-Boro three times back-to-back and then the Arse-WBA match, so I didn't get to see Spurs over 90 minutes this weekend.  Routledge did some good things out there, showing good bursts of pace and decent crossing ability, but he lacked conviction.  The ex-Palace man's biggest problem is his tendency to showboat, as he tried to do against WBA in December.  Nine times out of ten, it doesn't work and it didn't yesterday.  With his attributes, his potential is unlimited but with his poor mentality and levels of concentration, it may not be realised at Spurs, certainly not with Lennon playing so well.

With injury to Mido, Jol had no choice but to go with the little-uns in attack and that actually brought out the slick passing side of our game, not seen since the destruction of Charlton in February.  Keano did his leading of the line, with a lot of running and harrying, while Defoe was on the periphery.  His big moment was when he struck the crossbar in the second half.  It was a nice bit of work by Defoe and a shame he couldn't score with it, as Sven & Nancy left shortly afterward.

Surely the Swede knows what Defoe is all about and the little hit-man will be on the plane to Germany because what else is there ?  Crouch, Bent and Bent, Beattie, Vassell, Fowler, Andy Johnson, Sutton, pesky Heskey and a crocked Owen.  I wonder who Rooney would really like alongside him at the World Cup ?  A crock, who's not played for half a season or a beanpole, who's sole purpose is to have long balls punted up to him.  No, I think he wants someone who is fit, sharp and hungry to make an impression, someone who is more suited to a passing game.  I wonder who that could be ?

I saw Davenport out there for about ten minutes, but he looked unsure, especially at corners, perhaps some miscommunication with Gardner (not uncommon).  'Big Dunc' trod on Ledley's foot and damaged it some, so Davids came on for the final few.  Hopefully, the King of White Hart Lane will pass his fitness test 'cos we're gonna need him tomorrow.  If anyone can keep Rooney quiet, Ledley can.  I wonder if Mido will be back too, as the Mancs don't like playing against a big, strong target man.

I'm really not sure what will happen tomorrow, as we never know which Spurs will turn up on the day.  If we play like we can, Spurs really should win.  I suspect that the other Spurs will turn up, where we go into an early lead, become overly cautious, cling on for dear life, concede a late equaliser and come away with a
score-draw.

Last mention goes to two of our future stars, both on loan and pitted against each other.  It was Jamie O'Hara's Chesterfield versus a Colchester side featuring Mark Yeates, who's been almost ever-present this season.  In an exciting little battle, Chesterfield struck first with two goals, the second of which was a belter from O'Hara.  Not to be upstaged by his Spurs team-mate, Irish wizard Yeates then took on the whole Chesterfield defence with a dazzling run, ending with the ball in the back of the net.  A fine solo effort that inspired a fight-back from Colchester, resulting in a 2-2 draw.  Fabulous displays from the Spurs youngsters but I think O'Hara edged it in the end.  Keep an eye on those two very exciting prospects.

Sean Jackson

Arsenal