Everton and Tottenham Hotspur shared points on the opening day of the new Premier League season after Erik Lamela cancelled out Ross Barkley’s early goal at Goodison Park this afternoon.
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Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane admits he is still not 100% fit, with Mauricio Pochettino open to the possibility of starting Vincent Janssen ahead of him against Crystal Palace. Spurs are hoping to take another step forward after a strong campaign last season saw them finally qualify for the Champions League again, but the more interesting story here might be that of Everton.
Argentina global Erik Lamela scored at the stroke of hour mark to equalize for the Mauricio Pochettino’s outfit and Wanyama has now leaked what they were told in the dressing room prior to the goal.
As for Everton, new manager Ronald Koeman insists the Toffees will not sell Romelu Lukaku and Phil Jagielka and are looking to add three or four more players in the wake of this week’s £47.5 million loss of England defender John Stones to Manchester City. “We wanted to start fast but we did not do that”.
Pochettino was happy with the second-half comeback that earned his side a point in their opening match of the Premier League season, yet a flat first-half display led to some tough talk from the Argentine at half-time in the visiting dressing room. It is the first game of the season and there is a long way to go.
Spurs trailed after four minutes at Goodison Park following Ross Barkley’s fortuitous free kick.
Everton keeper Maarten Stekelenburg rescued his side in the closing stages when he thwarted livewire Lamela and substitute Vincent Janssen.
With 10 minutes to go, Vincent Janssen nearly scrambled home his first goal for Tottenham after Everton failed to clear a corner, but Stekelenburg got down quickly to thwart his Netherlands counterpart.
‘The club is doing everything to keep all the players we’d like to keep in the team’.
“I was very unhappy [at half-time], but I think in the second half we played much better”.
“Because you never know – certain managers play poker. But I felt good and was ready to play 90 minutes”.
It would not have flattered Everton’s dominance, but it was a different story in the second half, with Pochettino giving Janssen a chance to show his worth. We need to show we are clever and learn from our mistakes.
“It was a disappointing end to what was a great season [last year]”.
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We’re also going to presume that Pochettino isn’t going to unveil a new formation tomorrow.
