Match Report (Forest) & Preview (Everton) Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!

Match Report (Forest) & Preview (Everton)

Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!

It was a good victory against Forest; the only downside was that Yves Bissouma was given a red card and will now miss the next four games. On top of that, Udogie got a yellow card and will miss our game against Everton. A game, I fear. Everton have been on the up lately and getting some good results. If it weren’t for their 10-point deduction, they would be sitting in 10th place with 23 points—ten points behind us.

Our ten-man team condemned Nottingham Forest to a fifth Premier League defeat in six games as we emphasised our top-four ambitions at the City Ground.

Richarlison's third goal in two games set us on our way, with the outstanding Dejan Kulusevski sealing victory.

This result moves us to fifth place. We are a point behind City, who drew against Palace over the weekend. We are six points behind Arsenic and Old Lace, who are top of the league. Teams in between City and the League leaders are Liverpool and Villa.

As for Forest, they sit 16th in the table, five points clear of the bottom three, have now won just once in their previous 13 matches in the English top flight, and the outcome of this contest is only likely to increase the pressure on boss Steve Cooper.

We controlled much of the first period, in which we lost Brennan Johnson to a head injury, and deservedly went ahead on the stroke of half-time when Richarlison nodded in from Kulusevski's superb cross from the right.

Two errors from goalkeeper Matt Turner sealed their fate, with a passing clearance straight to Kulusevski before allowing his powerful drive to beat him at the near post.  

While Son played a productive role for us, thrashing of Newcastle last Sunday, Kulusevski was our inspiration at the City Ground this time around. He was a constant source of danger and excelled after switching to the right flank, with Johnson going off with a cut to the head after a nasty clash with his former teammate Boly.

Thoughts…

Dejan Kulusevski has been great for us. He started in the middle and looked dangerous, then when Brennan Johnson went off, he went back out wide and had the quality of delivery. Brilliant.

As for Bissouma, Ange will be far from happy about an impending four-match suspension for the second time this season for an almost knee-high tackle on Ryan Yates.

Match Preview: Spurs v Everton

We find ourselves in fifth place after winning nine of our opening 16 games. Recently, we endured a five-game winless run (four losses and one draw) before ending that streak by running out 4-1 winners over Newcastle and a 2-0 victory over Forest (A). As for Everton, they are currently having a good run. They won four on the bounce while tasting one defeat across their last seven Premier League outings (five wins and one draw).

The stats behind our Spurs vs Everton:

Both teams have scored in each of their last four Premier League home games.

We won five of our previous eight Premier League home matches.

Everton are on a four-game unbeaten run away from home (four wins).

We opened the scoring in each of our last six Premier League home games.

Our previous four Premier League home games have seen over 2.5 goals scored in them.

 

Spurs team news…

Ivan Perisic, Rodrigo Bentancur, Micky van de Ven, James Maddison, Ryan Sessegnon, Manor Solomon, Alfie Whiteman & Eric Dier are still out.

Yves Bissouma and Udogie are both suspended.

Tottenham vs Everton head-to-head record

03 Apr 2023 – Everton 1-1 Tottenham – Premier League

15 Oct 2022 – Tottenham 2-0 Everton – Premier League

07 Mar 2022 – Tottenham 5-0 Everton – Premier League

07 Nov 2021 – Everton 0-0 Tottenham – Premier League

16 Apr 2021 – Everton 2-2 Tottenham – Premier League

Tottenham are unbeaten in their last five matches with Everton (two wins and three draws).

My prediction…

This is a tough one. I shall go for a 2-1 win. Hopefully, we will score more, but considering our suspensions and injuries, I’ll be happy with this score.

That is it, folks,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

COYS!

Glenn