Image Credit: The Guardian
By Lee Clow 12 May 2019 | Premier League
Tottenham’s final Premier League game of the season ends in a draw against Everton with their eyes clearly set on their Champions League final meeting with Liverpool.
After booking their place in the Champions League final in dramatic fashion last Wednesday, Tottenham had Everton on the final day of the Premier League season where they looked to secure their top 4 place for next season.
The game could not have started any better for Tottenham when Eric Dier smashed home from a corner on 3 minutes. Lamela’s corner beat the first man and looked for Llorente who managed to get the ball down to Dier to fire home past Pickford in the Everton goal. Tottenham could have scored more before half time but were let down by poor finishing from Dele and Moura. Everton were restricted to minimal chances in the first half with only one clear cut when Bernard forced a smart save by Tottenham captain Lloris.
After the interval, Everton came out of the blocks well and started to frustrate Tottenham’s play. More chances were being created with Everton noticing a weakness in the Tottenham defence. Eventually, Everton got their inevitable goal and equalised through former Arsenal man Theo Walcott. The former Gunner was played in nicely by Sigurdsson and coolly slotted home to make the score 1-1. After the goal, Tottenham continued to be frustrated and soon found themselves 2-1 down with only 18 minutes remaining. Sigurdsson involved once again swung in a corner which was met by Keane who got good contact on the ball forcing Lloris into great save. Despite keeping it out, the rebound from Lloris fell straight to Tosun who managed to force the ball home in a scramble.
Immediately after Everton’s second, Spurs responded as Eriksen fired into the bottom corner from a free kick. Spurs had Eriksen and Lamela behind the ball, but it was inevitable on who it was going to be to take the free kick. The Tottenham Dane has got a good reputation on dead ball situations, but his free kick today was in fact his first free kick goal in the Premier League since 2015 when he scored 2 against Swansea.
The draw between these two leaves Tottenham in 4th and Everton in 8th in the final standings of this Premier League season. Tottenham cement their position in the top 4 and qualify for the Champions League for the third campaign in a row. For Everton, they just miss out on a Europa League spot with Wolves taking their position in the competition alongside Arsenal and Manchester United.
After the game, Mauricio Pochettino was quick to praise his players for their effort in a season filled with no signing, stadium delays and injuries. "This group of players deserve so much credit. They have put so much unbelievable effort in. There have been many positives this season…The players and staff have shown so much character. We broke down all the doors when the circumstances were against us with the new stadium stuff…So to see their capacity to fight again makes me so proud. I think this is our best season in our five years…I am so happy, so pleased. What we have achieved this season - top four and final of Champions League - it is difficult to assess now but in time the people will realise what we achieve."
Everton boss, Marco Silva was critical with how his team started the game but was pleased with the response in the second half. "I was satisfied by the end of the match but not with how we started. We were too slow, and we made a mistake at the set piece. Afterwards, we started to react. It was different in the second half and we showed more desire to score…They scored from another set piece, but we did well, and we showed desire to play our offensive game. The last two or three months we've done fantastic."
What’s next?
With the last Premier League games being played this season, we will not see these two sides again in the league until August. For Tottenham however, they have one more game this season and it is the most important game of their history; a Champions League final. Tottenham head to Madrid to take on Liverpool in the Champions League final on June 1 with kick-off at 8pm.
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