Everton vs Tottenham result: Cenk Tosun scores late equaliser after match marred by Andre Gomes injury

If, by their nature, there are no winners in draws, there were only losers in this. Everton may have secured a point when they looked likely to suffer defeat, courtesy of Cenk Tosun’s 97th-minute equaliser, but they lost Andre Gomes, potentially for the season with what appeared to a serious injury.

Tottenham lost a lead, depriving them of a first away league win since January, and Son Heung-min, sent off and now suspended for three games. Having led through Dele Alli, they failed to take their chance to get into the top half of the table. 

A mediocre performance should offer little consolation, even if they did register just a third point from a possible 36 on the road.

Spurs had only draws at Manchester City and Arsenal to show for their Premier League away trips since January and, lacking the ill Harry Kane, found victory elusive again. For much of a mediocre match, they could have done with him, though Alli provided a fine finish.

It was only Alli’s second goal of the season, but it was well taken. He drilled in a shot at the near post after Son played a defence-splitting pass. The catalyst for the move, albeit inadvertently, was the former Arsenal man Alex Iwobi, who gifted Son possession. The other, perhaps, was Mauricio Pochettino, who started Son on the right and moved him into the middle for the second half.

But he did not complete it. Son’s lunge at Gomes inflicted a distressing ankle injury on the midfielder, who was treated for several minutes before being taken off the pitch on a stretcher. Referee Martin Atkinson initially booked the South Korean before upgrading the yellow card to a red. Son was visibly upset before then after seeing the state of Gomes’ injury. 

He had also been involved in some of the latest instalment of VAR drama, being denied a penalty from Yerry Mina’s clumsy challenge. Everton were also frustrated when Alli seemed to handle and neither the on- or off-field referee gave them a spot kick. 

But, amid a febrile atmosphere after Gomes’ departure, they conjured a comeback. If Tosun was surprisingly summoned before Gylfi Sigurdsson and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, he justified Silva’s decision by heading in Lucas Digne’s centre after the left-back met Mina’s deep cross with a volley.

Even with that leveller, Everton remain 17th, far below what their expectations and expenditure dictate. Yet the reality that they had only two tame Richarlison shots on target before Alli scored – in turn with Spurs’ first effort on target – underlined the lack of creativity both sides had.