Michael Keane made amends for conceding a penalty by scoring off a long-range thunderbolt in the 90th minute to earn Everton a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in a feisty English Premier League game that saw both teams finish with 10 men on Monday. (More Football News)
Some Everton fans jumped over the advertising hoardings to celebrate Keane’s dipping strike that took their team out of the relegation zone and stopped Tottenham from jumping to third place in its first match since the departure of manager Antonio Conte.
“You won’t believe me,” said Keane, a center back whose rare goals typically come off headers from set-pieces, “but every now and then I hit the ball like that in training. To see one come off is amazing but honestly, after giving the penalty away, I was buzzing to score.”
Harry Kane put Tottenham Hotspur ahead at Goodison Park, converting a penalty past England teammate Jordan Pickford in the 68th for his 22nd goal of the season after a foul by Keane on Cristian Romero.
By that time, Kane, the England captain, was being jeered every time he touched the ball because of his central role in the sending off of Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure in the 58th.
Kane fell to the ground after being struck in the face by Doucoure as the two grappled in an off-the-ball incident.
Everton manager Sean Dyche likely wasn’t alone inside Goodison in thinking Kane made too much of an incident that saw Doucoure lash out at the striker after they grabbed each other’s shirts following their meaty challenge.
Tottenham couldn’t take advantage of its extra man, with Everton finishing the stronger — perhaps harboring a perceived sense of injustice — especially when the visitor was reduced to 10 men when substitute Lucas Moura was also shown a straight red card for a studs-first lunge on Keane’s ankle in the 89th.
“The mentality is getting stronger and stronger, and that’ll stand us in good stead going forward,” said Dyche, whose team came from behind twice to draw at Chelsea in its last league game.
Tottenham at least climbed one place to fourth position, the final Champions League spot, but will regard it as two points dropped.
Spurs interim manager Cristian Stellini was disappointed at the way his players managed the game after going ahead.
“My feeling now is that we have lost two points this evening because with 11 men against 10, we have to control the game much better. We try to but not the way I expect.
“After our red card, the power of the game was with them. They find an amazing goal and they draw the game. We have to do much better.”
Spurs are on the same number of points as third-placed Newcastle and fifth-placed Manchester United but have played two games more than both rivals.
Everton climbed three places to 15th but was only a point above the bottom three with nine games remaining in a tight race to avoid the drop.
“I’m not looking at the table — it’s the one at the end of the season that matters,” Dyche said.
Play was paused midway through the first half so the three Everton players participating in Ramadan — Doucoure, Amadou Onana and Idrissa Gueye — could break their fast.
During the Islamic holy month, fasting Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours.
