Tottenham v Everton predictions: Toffees could prove sticky opponents

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Tottenham v Everton in the Premier League on Monday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event, 8pm Monday

Best bet

Everton or draw double chance
1pt 11-8 BoyleSports, Hills

Team news

Tottenham
Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Moura are available again but Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga are sidelined.

Everton
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Vitalii Mykolenko and Demarai Gray will need to prove their fitness but Andre Gomes is available. The game comes too soon for Ben Godfrey.

Match preview

Time is running out for Frank Lampard to save Everton from the drop but there are indications that the Toffees could be starting to turn the corner and they can take advantage of an inconsistent Tottenham team.

Everton are perilously close to the relegation zone after a run of two wins since the end of September, sitting one point and one place above the bottom three.

A dreadful away record is partly to blame for their predicament, the Toffees taking a league-worst six points from 12 games on their travels, and yet they should head to the capital in a positive frame of mind.

Everton look far more organised and determined when holding leaders Manchester City at bay for large swathes of their most recent Premier League engagement and were undone only by an individual mistake from Michael Keane.

Not being awarded a penalty for a handball so obvious that the head of the Referees' Association Mike Riley had to apologise didn’t help matters and Everton can consider themselves unlucky not to have taken something from the game.

Lampard deployed a three-man midfield to great effect, the energy of Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure forcing City into uncharacteristic errors.

They should expect to control the middle of the park against a Tottenham team who have a soft underbelly, with Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, if available, capable of bullying the Spurs backline.

Lampard sounded hopeful in his pre-match press conference that Calvert-Lewin would play some part against Tottenham, potentially from the bench, and Everton have badly missed his presence up front in an injury-plagued campaign for the England man.

A presence up front is one department Tottenham aren’t lacking in with Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son combining to great effect to put Leeds to the sword in their last league outing.

Another performance like that and Everton will be in trouble but the hallmark of Spurs recently has been inconsistency.

Back-to-back home defeats to Wolves and Southampton aside, Tottenham have alternated between wins and losses since the turn of the year, following up their ruthless 4-0 win at Leeds with a tepid showing at Middlesbrough as their hopes of silverware were ended with a 1-0 extra-time defeat.

Antonio Conte named his strongest team at the Riverside with Kane and Son playing the full 120 minutes. In contrast, Lampard was able to make six changes as Everton enjoyed a trouble-free FA Cup win over Boreham Wood the following night.

Spurs looked jaded against Middlesbrough as they suffered a seventh defeat in their 13th game of 2022 with only Brentford having lost more games (eight) in all competitions amongst Premier League teams.

Given that record, backing Tottenham at odds-on holds little appeal and opposing them with an Everton side that’s shown some fight and passion - qualities strangely missing from a Conte team - could prove profitable.

Key stat

Everton are unbeaten in six of their last seven meetings with Tottenham.

Inside info

Tottenham

Penalty taker Harry Kane
Free-kick wizard Harry Kane
Set-piece aerial threat Eric Dier
Card magnet Cristian Romero

Everton

Penalty taker Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Free-kick wizard Anthony Gordon
Set-piece aerial threat Michael Keane
Card magnet Allan

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