Dele Alli volleys equaliser to keep Tottenham in top-four hunt
Either player would therefore have made a fitting match-winner on a day the big guns of Romelua Lukaku and Harry Kane were eclipsed.
But despite a game of almost non-stop attacking, no-one else was able to add to add their name to the scoresheet as Everton avoided a third straight home defeat and Tottenham banked another point towards their quest to secure a top-four finish and a Champions League place.
That target looks within Tottenham’s grasp after another impressive performance, although manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted the result had been greeted by the sound of silence in the away dressing room.
Pochettino said: “It is too early to start to speak about some challenge or achievements at the end of the season. At the way we are, all can happen. We are very ambitious. The players are very disappointed in the dressing room. Always at the end of the game we play some music but today we are very disappointed. That is a good sign.
“Maybe tomorrow we will analyse the game and say we need to feel proud and happy for the point but today our feeling is that we dropped two points. This is a very good sign.”
For the fourth time in eight games, Everton were unable to hold onto a lead, but this time manager Roberto Martinez could have no complaints as his side showed greater steel to match one of the country’s in-form teams.
“I feel satisfied,” said Martinez. “We never lost the defensive intensity. It is not something we have had at home and it has cost us points, but my players were immense in that respect. They just could not find the final pass in certain moments when maybe they could get the winning goal. But the important aspect was the way we responded in the second half.”
This had been billed as a shoot-out between Kane and Lukaku, who had scored 58 goals between them in 2015. Lukaku shaded that race by four goals and the Everton man was also four better off in the Premier League this season with 15 goals to Kane’s 11.
Kane looked to cut the deficit within eight minutes of the start as he crashed a low drive across Tim Howard and against the inside of a post.
That near miss summed up Tottenham’s opening as they dominated without being able to force the breakthrough against a defence which had conceded seven goals in their last two home games.
Everton had barely been out of their own half but with 22 minutes gone they took a shock lead through Lennon.
The winger’s previous goal had come in April during his loan spell from Spurs, for whom he last scored in December 2013, but he showed a finisher’s instinct as he seized on a knock-down from Lukaku to steer a first-time, right-footed shot past Hugo Lloris.
Lennon then teed up a shot for Arouna Kone for a shot which was blocked, but Tottenham were soon back on the front foot as Ben Davies lashed a fierce shot against the underside of the bar from 22 yards out after a corner had been rolled into his path.
And in first-half stoppage time the visitors were deservedly level thanks to Alli’s fifth goal of the season, superbly taken as the midfielder, 19, who again looked a star in the making, chested down a long ball from Toby Alderweireld before volleying home.
Alli again used his chest to superb effect seven minutes into the second half to set up an opportunity for Kane, which he was unable to take under pressure from the outstanding John Stones, as Tottenham’s best chance of securing a fourth successive win for the first time in two years passed them by.
Everton went all out for victory themselves. And they might have earned it but for Lloris’ superb save from a Besic volley and another stop from Barkley in added time.
Howard 7; Coleman 7, Stones 8, Funes Mori 7, Baines 7; Barry 8, Cleverley 7; Lennon 7 (Deulofeu 59, 6), Barkley 7, Kone 5 (Besic 59, 8); Lukaku 6. Substitutes: Robles, Jagielka, Mirallas, Osman, Galloway.
Lloris 7; Walker 7, Alderweireld 8, Vertonghen 7, Davies 7; Dier 8, Carroll 8; Eriksen 6 (Son 69), Alli 8 (Chabli 83), Lamela 6 (Onomah 88); Kane 6. Substitutes: Vorm, Rose, Bentaleb, Trippier.
Michael Oliver.
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