Everton (Home) 24.05.2026

The crowd were up for it today, with the early welcoming of the team coach and getting plenty of hydration before entering the scorching stadium.  Police were out in force, perhaps expecting some adverse reaction should things not go as the Spurs fans wanted and frankly, I didn’t envy them, being in heavy uniform in these temperatures.  The players probably didn’t need to warm up in this heat, but when De Zerbi came out to gee up the fans, he directed the starting XI into the shade, where Everton had already camped themselves. 

When the game kicked off, it was a weird start to the match, as Everton took the kick-off and suddenly the ball was a million miles up in the air.  It was like when players kick for touch or just try to have a shot at goal from the kick off, indicating there is no real tactic behind it other than to get the ball upfield.  I suppose it might have been an American football type “hail Mary” kick to get hang time and allow their players to challenge for it.  It didn’t work as Joao Palhinha headed it away.  I assume that a lot of Spurs fans hoped that the “Hail Mary”s they had invoked would have a better outcome.

Tottenham were quick from the start and pressed hard.  An early free kick just outside the left corner of the box was taken by Pedro Porro and the ball was headed out for a corner.  It was cleared and Tel went down after Ndiaye stamped on his foot, but nothing was given.  With five minutes gone, Porro had a shooting chance but it was on his wrong foot and was blocked, the ball ending up going out for a Spurs throw on our right wing.  Kevin Danso took it shirt, Porro crossed with Pickford and Keane getting in each other’s way so that the ball wasn’t effectively cleared.  Micky van de Ven won the ball in the air, it dropped for Conor Gallagher, who took a touch and with his left foot shot into the side netting just on the left hand corner of the six yard area.  There was a roar, because everyone on the East Stand side saw the net ripple, but it was the wrong side of it to count.  He had to take his shoot quickly and wasn’t able to get around it to get in on target.

Everton’s passing was loose, but there was plenty of aggression in the tackle although the Spurs energy was being better channelled into winning the ball.  Djed Spence, wearing a mask thanks to Liam Delap’s elbow breaking his jaw six days previously, was enjoying running at Mykolenko and won a corner that Danso headed at goal.  It hit a defender and dropped for him to have a shot but he dragged it wide of the far post.  Mathys Tel drew O’Brien in as a ball was played to the French winger and let it run, leaving the lumbering right-back struggling to stop him, only being able to do so by holding him back, which earned Spurs a free-kick and O’Brien a yellow card.  While the fourth official Robert Madley (and what is he doing officiating in the Premier League again ?) spent every possible moment telling De Zerbi to stay in his penalty area, he allowed Coleman to come off the Everton bench and cross the tunnel to confront the Tottenham bench amongst much acrimony after the booking incident.  When the free-kick was taken, the ball was glanced towards the far post where Palhinha was free but couldn’t keep his shot down.

O’Brien than dived in late, kicking Tel on the back of his heel, but only a free-kick was given this time.  Then when Rohl was tackled by van de Ven, the Everton man’s follow through caught Micky in the shin area with his studs.  Much like the non-penalty against Leeds, he might have played the ball first, but the damage came after that and the surprising result was a free-kick to Everton for Micky getting kicked !  A similar incident in more or less the same part of the pitch against Leeds ended up with Porro getting booked after winning the ball.  Astounding that the only consistency with refereeing is the inconsistency.

Porro and Spence exchanged passes before Djed put a cross across the six yard box and Pickford flew out to punch it beyond the far post.  Djed has spurned his usual hand bandage to go for one that extended up to the bottom of his short sleeve.  How long will it be before he comes out looking like The Mummy ? 

After the drinks break because of the heat, Everton had a couple of minutes in the Tottenham half, with two crosses slung in that Spurs defended well.  While Everton looked like they were enjoying the sunshine, there was always the threat of a Ndiaye run or a Dewsbury-Hall shot that might threaten.  When Porro took the ball off Dewsbury-Hall inside the the Spurs half on the edge of the centre-circle it started a Spurs move that had Palhinha tricking his way past one blue shirt with a good bit of skill before his shot from outside the box squirted off a defender for a corner.  It was won in the air by Danso, but his header hit Richarlison and ran through to Pickford.

Palhinha had Spurs fans’ hearts in their mouths when a blocked cross went up in the air and inside the Tottenham box, he tried to head the ball to a team-mate, but almost presented it to Barry, but thankfully, we won the ball and worked it away.  Rohl gave away a needless free-kick when he pushed Gallagher over from behind, with Conor not really going anywhere near the left wing corner flag.  Pedro played it in but Pickford punched it out to lead to a bit of head tennis ending with Dewsbury-Hall going down holding his head to stop play.  Except it didn’t stop, just paused while the ref asked him if he was OK before Djed played a ball int the box that was headed away for Richarlison to pick up and win a corner off O’Brien.  Richi geed the crowd up and Mathys took the set-piece.  It went long to the back post and from inside the six-yard box, Joao Palhinha headed against the post but was quick to react and push a left-footed shot at goal.  It didn’t seem to have too much power, but just enough to cross the line before Barry could try to clear it.  Watching it live from the other end of the stadium, it was difficult to work out what was happening, but Danso again reacted first as Iroegbunam tried to control it to put the ball into the net just in case.   Rarely have I heard a roar like it from the Spurs contingent, as it was a goal that could mean so much for them and the club and coming a few minutes before half-time, it is always said to be a good time to score.  His run to Andreas Georgeson indicated that this is something they had been working on and as Tottenham players and subs piled on, it was clear that they were ‘All Together Always’.

Almost straight away, a long throw into the box caused Rodrigo Bentancur to shove into the back of Tarkowski, but thankfully, this VAR decision went our way.  Tottenham were using their left wing well, with Gallagher keeping the ball under pressure to play through Udogie, Tel and Richarlison to give Destiny an opportunity to cross at the other end as the game was in four added minutes.  When the half-time whistle came, news reached us that West Ham were still 0-0 with Leeds.

The second half took six minutes to restart as there were the now customary communications malfunction, which meant our game would finish before the one at the Taxpayers Stadium.  It really sums up refereeing these days that with all the technology, they are just a total mess.  Proved without doubt when the linesman on the West Stand side gave a goal-kick when Mykolenko pushed the ball off when he tackled Djed Spence, just two yards in front of the linesman.  Talk about “He should have gone to Specsavers” !  But then it doesn’t matter to them, as there is no sanction for not being able to see the blindingly obvious.  Anyway, the next time Spence was involved he received a good ball down the right, held it up until support arrived, swapped passes with Gallagher and put a shot at the near post in that looked as though it would be comfortable for England’s number one goalkeeper, who managed to almost let it go through him and was received to see it go wide of the post for a corner.  It doesn’t give you much optimism for England’s chances in the World Cup.  The corner was a little too high for Richi to get a firm header on it, but the ball was played back across to Porro, who shot with his left foot and it was deflected wide.  All that within three minutes of the kick-off !

Just a couple of minutes later Spurs began to drop deep when Everton had possession in the Tottenham half and when they made a couple of subs, they passed the ball better.  With Sarr on already, he ran into the box as Everton defenders backed off, but he went down with no contact and was shown the yellow card.  With Maddison and Gray coming on to add legs and ball retention, for Bentancur and Gallagher, who had run themselves into the ground it was required to stop the visitors’ passing that was pushing them up the pitch. 

George was proving tricky on the Everton left and Moyes brought on Beto for Barry, Alcaraz for Dewsbury-Hall and Coleman for Ireogbunam.  The defender got a good round of applause from the Spurs crowd as this was to be his last appearance for the club.  The ref had been so specific about where Tottenham took their throw-ins and free-kicks and then lets Pickford move the ball nearly ten yards forward, which De Zerbi contested only to be shoved back by the fourth official.  It led to a chance five minutes from time as Alcaraz fed the ball into Keane in the box, with his flick putting George free behind the Spurs defence on their left, but his square ball looking to find Beto was cut out by the Spurs captain and Kinsky gratefully grabbed the ball.

Palhinha was bundled over and grabbed the ball getting a yellow card, while mayhem broke out around him.  Kolo Muani and Maddison got into a shoving match with Garner and Alcaraz, but it all got defused after temperatures were heated.  Micky headed it away and Danso went down after taking a dig in the ribs.  Then he got an elbow in the right eye from Tarkowski who only got a yellow card, as the crowd got noisy again with West Ham 2-0 ahead and 90 minutes approaching.  Destiny was replaced by Radu Dragusin as the fourth official showed nine minutes to be added on, with news that West Ham won 3-0 filtering through.

As soon as it went into added time there was a clash of heads that would mean more added time.  Keane headed over when play had restarted with a drop ball but it went over, so Toni Kinsky had still not had to make a save.  Spurs had gone five at the back with Spence going to left back and when Porro went down after being clumped in the head by George, the ref failed to stop play, so Pedro got up, won the ball and then Pape lofted the ball as high as he could into the Everton half.  Keane was unsure where it was, Pickford came out of his box to head it as Kolo Muani chased it down and the keeper was fortunate that the ball ended up in the box so that he could grab it in the air. 

Spurs were getting pushed back into their box but when a right-wing cross came in, Alcaraz put his header wide with what ended up with five minutes to go.  Every free-kick for Spurs was loudly cheered.  Kinsky was booked for taking too long to take a free-kick as time was tried to be run down.  Porro cleared a free-kick away to 30 yards from goal, but it was fed left to George, who came inside Pedro to aim a shot at Kinsky’s top left corner, but the Spurs keeper threw himself up and across to make a brilliant save to push the ball over the bar.  It was a match-winning save, getting a strong right hand thrown up to it to keep it out.

As we reached the nine minutes of added time played, Keane headed a cross over the bar.  In the 100th minute of the match, van de Ven was pushing up into the Everton half to close down and the ball was played into the Spurs box from the right, coming off a defender for a corner at the far post when it could have gone anywhere.  Dragusin won the header at the corner, then cleared the ball but only 25 yards from goal.  Everton played it to the right and Oliver did the best thing he did all game by blowing the final whistle. 

It will be the end of a season to remember for the wrong reasons but one that should not be forgotten.  There should be steps taken to ensure that we are not playing for our Premier League position on the last day of the season.  It has come close before like the 6-2 win at Wimbledon in 1998, but for the second season running we have had nervous matches at the end of the season.  As my friend said to me at the end of the match, last season in Bilbao, if you lose a cup in a final it’s gutting, but you live to fight another day.  Here, it was something more than that and while the players who won the Europa League will go down in the club’s history, todays squad will only really be known for digging themselves out of a grave they had put themselves in.  It’s a little bit unfair, as this victory is probably worth much more than the one in Spain, but the preceding 31 matches to RDZ taking over will be what many of the players will be remembered for.

Having said that outstanding today among a host of top performances was Kevin Danso was immense.  Getting his head to most of the balls into our box and taking the knocks before getting up and getting on with it.  Pedro Porro is not one of everyone’s favourite player, but he got stuck in today, defended doggedly and covered for team-mates when they were out of position.  Micky van de Ven was in the right place at the right time when danger threatened.  His energy to the end of the match in very hot conditions characterised a real captain’s performance.  Toni Kinsky made another save that went a long way to keeping us from relegation, as he did in the Leeds game.  He looks confident after the battering he took in the Atletico match and his distribution is very good.  And finally Rodrigo Bentancur.  HIs return to the side has coincided with an upturn in results.  He doesn’t do anything flashy, but his ability to hold onto the ball when under pressure from one, two or three players is invaluable.  Rodrigo keeps the ball moving, is available to receive it (often in tight positions) and covers a lot of ground.  He probably doesn’t get the recognition he deserves – much like fellow midfielders of the past such as David Howells, John Pratt, Simon Davies, Didier Zokora – but the work that he does allows others to play.    

Roberto De Zerbi has done what was required of him for this season.  Survival was his one target and to do it in seven matches was a very successful achievement, with three wins, two draws and two losses.  I also suspect that the football that has been played in those games is not the football that RDZ wants to play, but was what was necessary to get the club above the trapdoor.

It’s not something that should be celebrated, but more a massive release of stress built up throughout a season that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.  It’s not that my hearing is failing me, but I don’t remember anyone singing “We are staying up”, as the BBC claimed … well not around me anyway.  The scenes at the end were of relief and of finally seeing a home win in 2026.  And that statement sums up what is wrong with the club at the moment.  The unbeaten home season of 2016-2017 seems a long time ago and for all the talk of recent managers making the THS a fortress have been just that.  Talk.  A lot of the recent home form has been backed by a fervent support from the Spurs fans, which, frankly, has not been the case in recent years.  The atmosphere was as hot as the weather and while you don’t know what effect that has on our and the opposition players, it would be nice if this could be carried forward to make the THS an unwelcoming place for visiting teams to come to.

It was a pretty good day really.  Got a lovely suntan.  West Ham got relegated winning the battle to have the best stadium in the Championship and Chelsea missed out on Europe.  And we stayed in the Premier League.    

When’s the open-top bus parade ? 

• Tottenham won only their third home league match of the season and their first at home in 2026
• Spurs completed their only league “double” over a team in the 2025-2026 season.