Tottenham put in one of their best performances under Ange Postecoglou to earn a 4-0 win against Everton on Saturday.
Spurs were excellent from start to finish in north London and chalked up their first win of the Premier League season.
The Toffees, however, were masterfully dire and suffered their second hammering in as many games to open the new campaign.
How the game unfolded
The hosts should have been ahead inside two minutes. Everton cleared a low corner but Son Heung-min retrieved the loose clearance and played in Cristian Romero, whose half-volley was saved at point-blank range by Jordan Pickford.
Another corner moments later saw Spurs create an opening, with Son’s deflected strike from 20 yards needing a strong hand from Pickford to push aside.
Pickford came up with a third fine save in the opening exchanges when he rushed out to deny James Maddison, who had raced onto Romero’s pass over the sleeping backline.
Tottenham were rewarded with the first goal of the afternoon on 15 minutes. Dejan Kulusevski wriggled his way past three trailing Everton bodies in and around the penalty area before teeing up Yves Bissouma, whose strike thundered in off the underside of the crossbar, scoring for the first time in Spurs colours.
Everton sought to find an immediate equaliser and went close when Dwight McNeil’s cross flew all the way to the back post for Jack Harrison, but his off-balance volley skewed off target.
Midway through the first half, Tottenham had their second and Pickford lost the credit he had banked. The Everton goalkeeper dawdled on the ball and was robbed by Son, who was able to simply tap into an empty net.
Tottenham had to survive a flurry of late corners and free-kicks to get to half-time with their two-goal lead in tact, with Everton causing real problems from set pieces.
After the break, Maddison went close again after being found by Romero, though this time his scuffed shot was a little easier for Pickford to deal with.
A loose pass from debutant Wilson Odobert allowed new Everton signing Jesper Lindstrom to have a pop at goal, with Guglielmo Vicario throwing up his long arm to thwart him.
With 20 minutes remaining, Spurs added a third. The combination of Romero and Maddison was threatening Everton all afternoon, and it turned out to be the midfielder assisting the defender this time, as the Argentine headed in from a deliciously whipped corner.
Tottenham’s fourth was quick to follow. Micky van de Ven won the ball back on the edge of his own box and proceeded to carry it around 80 yards to the other penalty area. From there, he shifted possession to Son, who nutmegged Pickford to round off the scoring.
Source – Tottenham 4-0 Everton: Player ratings as fabulous Spurs bury Toffees (90min.com)
