On a weekend of eyebrow-raising scorelines and impressive away victories in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur delivered arguably the most exhilarating display of Gameweek 18 at Goodison Park on Sunday.
While Crystal Palace and Leicester City have strong claims for “result of the week” with their wins at the Etihad and Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Spurs’ swashbuckling attacking exhibition – like Manchester United’s in South Wales – caught the eye from a Fantasy perspective.
Everton had taken only one point from five previous meetings with “big six” clubs in 2018/19 but the magnitude of Spurs’ victory was totally unexpected, with Mauricio Pochettino’s troops making light work of a side that had previously been beaten only once on home soil this season.
Anyone who owned one or more of Spurs’ front four would have been rewarded with FPL points, as Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen all got on the scoresheet in the same game for the very first time.
An injury to Alli slightly soured proceedings, but as we will discuss below, the problem doesn’t sound too serious and his half-time withdrawal may have been precautionary in nature.
We’ll also round up the goals, assists, manager quotes and Fantasy talking points from the highest-scoring Premier League match of the season so far.
Everton 2-6 Tottenham Hotspur
- Goals: Theo Walcott (£6.2m), Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.3m) | Son Heung-min (£8.5m) x2, Dele Alli (£8.9m), Harry Kane (£12.5m) x2, Christian Eriksen (£9.3m)
- Assists: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.3m), Richarlison (£7.0m)| Harry Kane, Son Heung-min x2, Kieran Trippier (£6.1m), Erik Lamela (£6.2m)
A year to the day since Harry Kane (£12.5m) hit the first of two successive Premier League hat-tricks in a comfortable away victory at Burnley, the Spurs forward was involved in another three of his side’s strikes as the Lilywhites demolished Everton on Merseyside.
This time it was two goals and one assist, with his 15-point haul being a season-high total and his third double-digit return on the road.
Kane though was slightly upstaged by Son Heung-min (£8.5m), who became only the third player this season to score more than 20 points in a single Gameweek.
Since Gameweek 11, no FPL player has been directly involved in more league goals than Son and Kane (ten each).
Kane has delivered an attacking return in each of his last seven starts and now he and Spurs face a run of six home fixtures in the space of eight Gameweeks, starting with a Boxing Day clash against a Bournemouth side who have conceded more shots in the box than all bar Burnley and Cardiff City in the last six Gameweeks.
FPL’s most expensive striker had twice as many attempts on goal as any other forward in Gameweek 18 and even by the time Spurs fell a goal behind to a Theo Walcott (£6.2m) strike, Kane was setting his sights.
A lob that dropped wide over an advancing Jordan Pickford (£5.0m) and a free-kick fired over the top of the Everton custodian’s bar preceded the game’s opening goal, before he twice missed the target either side of Son Heung-min‘s (£8.5m) leveller.
Kane played a big part in that goal too, with his optimistic through-ball being pounced on by the Korean midfielder when Pickford and Kurt Zouma (£5.0m) made a complete hash of clearing it.
Dele Alli (£8.9m) then stabbed home Spurs’ second goal when Pickford parried Son’s shot before Kane finally got in on the act, showing predatory instincts to react when Kieran Trippier‘s (£6.1m) free-kick struck the upright.
Kane doubled his tally after the break when sweeping home an excellent Son cross.
No player on show at Goodison could match the England striker’s total of nine penalty box touches and this was more of a “Kane of old” performance – though with the now obligatory dropping deep thrown into the bargain.
It’s perhaps no surprise that Kane shone when playing alongside Son, Alli and Christian Eriksen (£9.3m), his regular comrades in attack last season who have so seldom been played together this season.
Son is in the middle of a purple patch of his own, with his confidently taken two goals – his second being teed up by substitute Erik Lamela (£6.2m) – indicative of his current hot streak.
Playing alongside Kane and occasionally in advance of him, Son made more final third touches than any other Spurs player on Sunday afternoon and only trailed his premium colleague by one penalty box touch.
Son is still available for another four Premier League fixtures before he heads off to the Asian Cup, so there is certainly plenty of mileage left in him ahead of his departure after Gameweek 22.
Eriksen and Alli’s excellent contributions were perhaps not as noteworthy from an underlying stats perspective but each left Merseyside with a goal – the Dane’s strike being a superbly hit shot from just outside the box after Kane’s cross was headed clear.
As we mentioned earlier, Alli was hooked at half-time after aggravating a hamstring injury in a challenge with Pickford – though Pochettino allayed fears of the severity of the problem in his post-match presser:
I didn’t see [Pickford’s tackle]. I am very curious to see the action. I think it wasn’t a great action. I don’t want to say nothing as I didn’t see on the video, but for some comment, I think was a tough action.
We will see if it’s an issue. I think he’s tired and tight in his hamstring. We hope it’s not a big issue.
Even if Alli recovers from the setback it may well be that he isn’t risked for the visit of the Cherries in Gameweek 19, with the former MK Dons midfielder having started five matches in the space of 15 days.
Moussa Sissoko (£4.9m) also limped off late on, meanwhile.
While there wasn’t to be an eighth clean sheet of the season and the Spurs backline didn’t look particularly convincing in the opening exchanges, Trippier was once again prominent in attacking positions: setting up an early chance for Kane, testing the reflexes of Pickford from inside the box and striking the post with a free-kick, all within the first half.
Everton had initially caused problems for Spurs, with Richarlison (£7.0m) spurning a presentable early headed chance and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.3m) having a goal perhaps harshly disallowed for a push with the score at 1-0.
Calvert-Lewin, who led the line again after his goal at Manchester City last week, had earlier teed up Walcott for the game’s opening goal.
Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.3m) at least handed their owners a consolation attacking return, with the Brazilian perhaps fortunate to claim the “assist” for his team-mate’s superb solo goal early in the second half.
Neither player really shone on an afternoon dominated by their opposite numbers, while the less said about the Everton defence the better.
Lucas Digne (£5.0m) got forward to deliver a few crosses and was perhaps the least atrocious of the back five from a defensive perspective, with Pickford, Zouma and Seamus Coleman (£5.2m) having dismal afternoons.
It is now five fixtures without a clean sheet for Marco Silva’s troops, though admittedly three of those games were against members of the “big six”.
The Toffees sit top of our Season Ticker for the next six Gameweeks, at least, so can expect easier tests in the coming month.
The loss of the influential Andre Gomes (£5.4m) could be significant, though, with the Portuguese midfielder limping from the pitch early in the second half.
The Liverpool Echo reported that the on-loan Barcelona star damaged his knee in Sunday’s encounter, though no update has been forthcoming from the club.
Everton XI (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Coleman, Keane, Zouma, Digne; Gomes (Schneiderlin 53′), Davies; Richarlison (Bernard 75′), Sigurdsson (Tosun 83′), Walcott; Calvert-Lewin.
Tottenham Hotspur XI (4-3-1-2): Lloris; Trippier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Davies; Sissoko (Moura 83′), Winks, Eriksen; Alli (Lamela 46′); Son (Skipp 79′), Kane.
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