Pounding upon the misery for Frank Lampard’s Everton – who, controversially, had been beaten by champions Manchester City the previous weekend – were Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs scored five and left Everton perilously close to the bottom.
All the signs suggest that Spurs are coming together. They have endured spells of inconsistency ever since the Italian’s appointment but have begun to resemble a team – especially in attack – lately. The same cannot be said for Everton. Lampard took over from Rafa Benitez in January this year and has endured four losses in his first five league games, the latest of which came on Monday night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Everton had fought off Manchester City until late the previous weekend, before crumbling to an eventual defeat. This time around, though, the Toffees conceded early and conceded twice. First, through an own goal from Michael Keane, who diverted a Ryan Sessegnon cross past his goalkeeper, and then, through Son Heung-min, who raced onto a threaded through-ass from Dejan Kulusevski before beating Jordan Pickford.
Pickford prevented Spurs from racing further ahead by denying Son and later Matt Doherty. Nevertheless, Conte’s men took a three-goal lead with themselves into the break, Harry Kane grabbing the third in the 37th minute after being played in behind the Evertonian defence with a superb defence-splitting pass from Doherty.
Sergio Reguilon, on as a half-time substitute, added a fourth, seconds after the restart. The Spaniard swept in as a Kulusevski cross evaded bodies in the box and landed kindly for him at the back post. Kane nearly turned provider for Tottenham’s fifth, his cross headed onto the woodwork by Eric Dier in the 55th minute. But, seconds later, Kane scored himself by volleying a Doherty cross from deep, putting Spurs five-nil up on the night.
The scoreline threatened to enter double figures at one point, but Everton resisted Spurs’ pressure after their fifth concession of the night while Spurs themselves took their foot off the pedal. Nonetheless, Conte’s men got the job done; their reward, the seventh position in the league but a promise of moving further upwards provided they win their games in hand over rivals West Ham and Manchester United.
