Tottenham Triumphs Over Everton

Emmanuel Adebayor's second half strike secured a hard fought victory for Tottenham over visiting Everton to move up to fifth in the Premier League table.

The Togo international fired home his seventh goal of the season with a fine finish to move his team to  just three points behind fourth-placed Liverpool.


Moussa Dembele replaced Roberto Soldado in the Tottenham starting line-up, while Andros Townsend was among the substitutes after recovering from a hamstring problem that has sidelined the winger since December.

Everton defender Seamus Coleman also returned from a hamstring injury and came into the side along with Steven Pienaar and Steven Naismith as Ross Barkley, John Stones and Aiden McGeady dropped to the bench.

Leon Osman missed four great chances in the first half, all within eight minutes as Everton had the better of the game in the first half – he shot straight at Hugo Lloris twice then forced the goal keeper to another superb fingertip save before heading a Naismith corner wide.

Kelvin Mirallas also missed begging chances shooting wide on both occasions – the first, eight minutes before half time and the second five minutes into the second half.

However, it was Tottenham that broke the deadlock in the 64th minute however despite their unimpressive play, Kyle Walker's free-kick found Adebayor just outside the box, and the 29 year old striker controlled the ball on his chest drove into the eighteen yard area before beating Tim Howard with a clinical left-footed finish.

Substitute Jermain Defoe who recently signed for MLS side, Toronto FC almost got the second for Tottenham in stoppage time, but Howard turned his low shot over the bar.

Everton had the better of the game in the first half  but lacked a cutting edge in the absence of a recognised striker as their hopes of securing a top-four finish suffered a setback.

The Roberto Martinez led team away form is becoming worrisome as they have won only one of their last six top-flight matches on their travels and today’s defeat means they slip to 6th on the table.