Tottenham grabbed an early two-goal lead, but in the end had to hang on for dear life for a 2-1 win over Everton Sunday at White Hart Lane in an English Premier League contest.
Spurs move back into the fourth and final Champions League spot ahead of Manchester City on goal difference, although City do have a game in hand.
Tottenham controlled the first half almost completely, but in the end were extremely fortunate to grab three points from a spirited Everton comeback.
Landon Donovan, moved to the bench after playing 90 minutes Thursday, came on in the 63rd minute and had a glorious chance to even the match when Jack Rodwell slid a ball to the back post in the 77th minute. All Donovan had to do was put the ball in the open net – albeit from a tight angle – but he put the ball into the side netting.
Everton played Thursday, being dumped out of the Europa Cup by Sporting in Portugal, and they looked like it in the first half, as Tottenham took the game to them.
Spurs were ahead after just 11 minutes as a mix-up in the Everton back saw Jermaine Defoe cruise past Sylvain Distin and slide the ball across to fellow striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, who slid and tapped the ball home from six yards. Pavlychenko, after scoring two goals off the bench last week, was given a surprise start by Harry Redknapp, moving Peter Crouch to the bench.
Tottenahm continued their dominance for the majority of the first half, and finally doubled their lead in the 28th minute as eventually their two Croatians, Niko Kranjcar and Luka Modric, combined to move the ball into the Everton box, and Modric’s strike beat Tim Howard, caroming off the crossbar and into the net for a 2-0 lead.
Spurs could have added to their lead in the first half, but Everton finally showed some signs of life at the end of the half, with Jack Rodwell having a good chance in the 40th minute turned away by Heurelho Gomes.
A couple of substitutions began to turn the tide early in the second half, David Moyes putting Phil Jagielka back in at center back, allowing Johnny Heitinga to move forward a bit.
Then, unfortunately for Tottenham, Tom Huddlestone was injured trying to take a shot and had to be replaced (by Younes Kaboul) in the 53rd minute.
It took a mistake to finally get Everton on the board just two minutes after Huddlestone departed. Gomes tried to get around Victor Anichebe on a ball floated in, but just ended up taking himself out of position, allowing Yakubu to tap the ball in.
Rodwell had another chance a minute later, but Gomes stopped this one. Steven Pienaar had another great chance as he stole the ball at midfield, and made it all the way into the Tottenham box before his shot was stopped by Gomes from 15 yards out.
But, unfortunately, the chance they’ll be talking about in the postgame was Donovan’s, as Everton suffered only their second league loss since November.
Tottenham may still be third-favorite to Manchester City and Liverpool for the final Champions League spot, but after Sunday, they are three points closer.
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