The changing of the guard. Tim Howard, his bald, spare visage and Tourette’s induced gesticulations that have been part and parcel of Evertonian life for close to a decade is gone. One did a double take every time the camera panned and it was not Howard but Maarten Stekelenburg, his replacement. The Dutchman had an eventful outing between the sticks especially in the last 20 minutes when Spurs sprang to life with Vincent Janssen, the Ajax signing introduced by Mauricio Pochettino, getting involved from the get go. It was almost starry, starry nights for Vincent but Stekelenburg stepped in to deny the striker from point blank range and then minutes later tipped Erik Lamela’s angled drive onto the crossbar. Spurs were all over Everton in the closing minutes but could not find a way to come up with three points.

Ronald Koeman’s new side started off on a bright note, even without Romelu Lukaku rumoured to be on his way out but missing this afternoon due to a foot injury. Kevin Mirallas and Gerard Deulofeu were the catalysts but it was Ross Barkley’s free kick which bounced in front of Hugo Lloris, bamboozling him into a too late, desperate swipe and onto goal that got the Toffees rolling. The first half was a wonderment at all those English standouts who went invisible – Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Kyle Walker, Eric Dier, and Danny Rose. Lloris was replaced by Michel Vorm who had his work cut out saving Delofeu’s shot.

The second half was different with Spurs growing into the game and Lamela increasingly influential. Walker supplied a peach of a cross and the juicy fruit found Lamela climbing on top of the Everton defence to uncork an unstoppable header. Spurs were attacking but Everton held firm. 19 year old Mason Holgate filling in for Ashley Williams deemed not match fit, was solid and Idrissa Gueye impressed with his timely tackles and tidy distribution of the ball from the backfield.

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