CONTE GET Kane and Hojbjerg help ENOUGH brush aside the Toffees
TOTTENHAM keep rolling on and getting the job done – with Harry Kane’s penalty and Pierre-emile Hojbjerg’s late strike maintaining their perfect home record.
It may not be prettiest, most spectacular entertainment on offer at the top end of table – but who cares when the results are this good?
Certainly, not Antonio Conte. The Spurs boss knows points are better than plaudits – and this eighth straight home league victory moves them within one of leaders and bitter rivals Arsenal.
The fact is, with a total of 23 on the board, this is their best start after 10 outings in Premier League history.
Not too shabby by anyone’s standards even if Frank Lampard’s Everton were seething over the penalty won and converted by England hitman Kane on his 400th appearance for the club.
He now has nine league goals – but the Toffees reckoned he dived when caught by keeper Jordan Pickford.
Everton were back-pedalling for the opening 10 minutes as
Spurs ran them ragged. Only a few weeks ago an out-of-sorts Heung-min Son had been benched.
Now, he is virtually unstoppable as Seamus Coleman discovered after four minutes when Son waltzed past him and crossed for Kane to head over.
Two minutes later, from the same flank, Ivan Perisic picked out Richarlison but the exevertonian nodded off target.
And then it was Son soon dovetailing between Coleman and Alex Iwobi only to be sent crashing in the box by the former’s forearm block. Spurs’ penalty appeals this time fell on deaf ears. It seemed only a matter of time before the hosts were ahead. Yet, gradually, Everton moved beyond their own half.
And midway through the opening period they almost snatched the breakthrough – totally against the run of play with their first serious assault.
Conor Coady initiated it with a long pass and Demarai Gray shrugged off Rodrigo Bentancur to be in in goal.
Having done the tough bit, the winger then messed it up by rushing his finish and firing wildly wide.
Now we had a more even contest and when Son blocked a
cross for an Everton corner on the half-hour, James Tarkowski should have done better with a free header.
That prompted an immediate response and it was Kane, slipped in by Perisic, who was brilliantly denied by England pal Pickford in the Everton goal.
But the best chance of the half fell to the Merseysiders when Tottenham’s rearguard failed to deal with a bouncing ball yet Amadou Onana, much like Gray earlier, produced a miserable effort.
What had been plain sailing had become a messy, bitty contest – with Spurs reduced a string of set-pieces before the break, all of which amounted nothing. Conte’s message at halftime would have been bordering on hair-dryer. Whatever words of wisdom produced, they took a while to spark a change.
Indeed, it was only after Yves Bissouma replaced injured Richarlison in the 52nd minute that Spurs suddenly went into overdrive.
Pickford denied Kane’s bullet first-time volley before Son blazed the rebound over.
Seven minutes later, however, the Three Lions stopper finally buckled under pressure, as he fumbled Matt Doherty’s low shot and then brought Kane down in the race tor the loose ball.
Following a heated minute of protest at Paul Tierney’s decision to award the penalty, Kane kept his composure and slammed past Pickford into the bottom right corner.
If the spot-kick was debatable, doubts about the result were killed off four minutes from time as Hojbjerg (right) capped a fine night with a lucky drive.