Everton 1-1 Tottenham
by James Nalton
at Goodison Park

A MICHAEL KEANE wonder strike earned Everton a deserved point from a heated meeting with Tottenham on Monday night.

A game that was littered with isolated, individual battles ended up having its dynamic changed by two moments of misguided aggression.

It all led to a high-octane finish. Everton chased an equaliser with 10 men, having had Abdoulaye Doucoure sent off for raising his hand to Harry Kane’s face, before the numbers were evened up when Lucas Moura lunged in dangerously on Keane.

Keane could have been seriously injured by such a tackle but came out of it unscathed, picking himself up to score his side’s equaliser with an unbelievable strike.

The aggression that punctuated the second half had been brewing throughout and raised the volume in Goodison. Kane had come up primarily against James Tarkowski for much of the game, while at the other end, Demarai Gray tried his luck against Clement Lenglet.

Two 34-year-old wide men, Seamus Coleman and Ivan Perisic, went head to head on the flank, but it was when Kane was involved in a coming together with Doucoure that the touchpaper was properly lit.

The pair clashed by the dugouts after the Englishman had kicked a prone Gray and Doucoure reacted.

Initially, it looked like Doucoure had caught Kane square on the chin with a left hook, and might be in line to feature in John Wight’s next boxing column.

Replays showed it was more of a prod and Kane had made the most of the contact. More WWE than WBA.

But the Everton man, having raised his hand to an opponent’s face in such a manner, could have no arguments with the decision by referee David Coote to send him off.

With Everton having lined up in a 4-4-2 formation using Doucoure as one of the two forwards, the sending-off didn’t change their shape too much. After Doucoure’s departure, they merely shifted to one up top, but it meant they couldn't defend from the front as well.

This saw Spurs take some semblance of control of the game for the first time. The pressure paid off fairly quickly when Keane fouled Cristian Romero, giving Coote an easy decision to award a penalty.

Kane dispatched it, sending his England teammate Jordan Pickford the wrong way. Though even if he’d guessed right, he wasn’t saving this well-hit shot.

Everton continued to press well high up the pitch despite being a man down. A flurry of substitutions and the fresh legs they brought helped, and the sending off of Moura in the 88th minute, just six minutes after he’d replaced Son Heung-min, helped even more.

No-one expected the goal to come in the way it did, though, perhaps including Keane himself who left the pitch with a beaming smile across his face. Regardless of how it came, it was a goal, and a point, Everton deserved.

The manner in which it did eventually come lifted spirits in Goodison where, with their side now sat in 15th, fans will be slightly more confident of Premier League survival. If the team show this kind of character every week, such confidence will be well-founded.