Everton 0-0 Tottenham: Dull draw at Goodison Park

Tottenham’s medical staff pay attention to Hugo Lloris after he suffered a head injury

Hugo Lloris’ blow to the head was the main talking point in an often dull goalless draw between Everton and Tottenham at Goodison Park as both sides fired blanks in front of goal.

Romelu Lukaku’s knee connected with Lloris’ head in an accidental collision when the goalkeeper rushed out to collect a through ball, and a lengthy treatment followed where the Frenchman refused to be substituted.

Key Stats:

The statistics may show Tottenham to be the much more dominant side on the whole, but Everton were good value for the point as they battled back in the second half.

Spurs had plenty of possession in the first-half but just couldn’t find the right pass in the final third, allowing the Toffees to seize the momentum after the break.

Overall, it was a very poor quality game with Everton averaging a 76 per cent pass completion rate and Tottenham a measly 75.

Performance Score:

Squawka’s performance score charts shows that Tottenham enjoyed the superiority for the entire ninety minutes, but in reality, the game followed a different pattern.

Andre Villas-Boas’ men took the advantage from the start and dominated possession, giving way to a rise in their performance score, but failed to turn that domination into goals.

In contrast, Everton were battered for large periods of the game but slowly gain a foothold in the game, especially in the second half which saw their score draw closer to Spurs’ own.

Man of the Match:

The Everton goalkeeper took our man-of-the-match award with a Squawka performance score of 58 as he kept out the Tottenham attack and earned Everton a valuable point.

Howard made three saves, three claims and a successful punch on the way to a clean sheet, and if it wasn’t for the American, the game may well have been over by half-time.

But the goalkeeper’s heroics between the sticks allowed Everton to regroup at the interval and rally back in the second half, and could have won the game from then on.

Key Observations:

It was as they say, a game of two halves. Tottenham started the brighter of the two teams and dominated possession with Andros Townsend, Aaron Lennon and Lewis Holtby all threatening.

But the same old problems remained as they were unable to utilise the strengths of lone striker Roberto Soldado, with plenty of wasted shots from the wide-men. If they had focused on providing service to the Spaniard, they may have fared better.

As for Everton, they weathered the storm in the first half but their revival came with the introduction of Ross Barkley to the play, also coinciding with Sandro’s subsitution.

This opened up space in midfield and allowed the Toffees to put together moves with Barkley at the centre of it all. But they were also let down by poor decision-making and quality in the final third.

Both teams didn’t deserve more than the point they earned, and the fact that the main talking point was Lloris’ accidental collision with Lukaku sums up the game as a contest.