ANDRE LEFT SHATTERED
Toffees rescue a point but injury overshadows it all
CENK TOSUN scored a dramatic late equaliser to rescue a point for Everton.
But it will be impossible for the Toffees to feel positive after this. In the end it felt like it hardly mattered after the horrific injury suffered by midfielder Andre Gomes.
It overshadowed the game and it could cast a shadow for a long time.
Nobody who was at Goodison will forget the sickening moment when Heung-min Son tripped him and the Portuguese star’s right foot got stuck in the turf as he collided with Serge Aurier.
Son was in tears and inconsolable as players from both teams tried to help him.
Gasps of horror came from the crowd near the incident.
It soon turned angry inside Goodison Park but their anger was misplaced if it was directed at Son. It was a freak accident with Aurier not to blame either for the serious leg injury. That doesn’t make it any easier to take for Everton and Gomes, though, with his season over and a long battle to recover.
Referee Martin Atkinson initially brandished a yellow card but the VAR changed it to red for Son.
The Tottenham forward was never going to be staying on the pitch after this incident.
But Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino maybe should have been afforded the opportunity to sub him.
It seemed like a decision based on emotion, but VAR should be far enough removed from it all to think differently.
The Premier League said the sending off was for “endangering the safety of a player which happened as a consequence of his initial challenge”.
Gomes was taken straight to nearby Aintree Hospital after his foot was left in an unnatural position.
It was not only Son who was visibly distraught by the injury, but the game had to continue.
Already it felt like an age since Dele Alli’s 63rd-minute opener and it certainly put the rows over the VAR decisions into some sort of perspective.
Yerry Mina had been lucky to escape conceding a penalty on Son earlier in the second half, having tumbled into the Spurs attacker on the hour.
Three minutes later, Alex Iwobi’s misplaced pass fell to Son and he put in Alli. The England midfielder cut inside and produced a fine finish.
He celebrated by pretending to have a nap after putting his finger to his lips. Afterwards he refused to
reveal if it was some sort of response to his critics. It was certainly timely with Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate in the stands.
Alli should have given Everton a chance to equalise eight minutes later when the ball hit his arm while it was raised over his head as he challenged Mina in the area.
But despite the VAR taking three minutes to review it, and watching 40 replays, they didn’t overrule Atkinson.
Then in the 78th minute Son lunged in and the horrific injury occurred. Tosun, not long on the pitch, was one of the first over to
Gomes, while others simply couldn’t look at the ghastly injury.
Everton have not recovered to win a game from 1-0 down under boss Marco Silva in the Premier League
But this was a huge test of character and they passed it.
In the seventh minute of the 12 added on, a Mina crossfield pass was put into the area first time by Lucas Digne.
Tosun bustled past the Tottenham defence to throw himself at the ball and find the net.
As dramatic and thrilling as it was, it hardly seemed to matter in the circumstances.