Tottenham 2-1 Everton (Richarlison 9’, Son Heung-min 18’ | Gomes 82′)
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – It is no surprise that 18 months on, Tottenham fans still sing about their “new Brazilian”. Before Richarlison’s current run, you have to go back to March 2021 – when he was still an Everton player – for the last time he scored in three consecutive Premier League matches.
Were Richarlison not playing up to the old cliché – he indeed looks “like a new signing” since rediscovering both confidence and movement – there would be considerably more angst about January.
Spurs were already looking threadbare before Cristian Romero was forced off at half-time in the 2-1 victory over the Toffees, with Ange Postecoglou revealing he had felt “tightness in his hamstring”. The Argentine spent the first 45 minutes hurling the ball away from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and the second sitting on an ice pack.
Richarlison has had a back injury of his own to contend with, and with a new year comes new problems. In addition to Mali’s Yves Bissouma and Senegal’s Pape Matar Sarr heading to the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), Son Heung-min will depart for the Asian Cup. In what feels a particularly cruel quirk, Son’s absence is being inflicted on Spurs by their former striker: the South Korea manager, Jurgen Klinsmann.
Postecoglou already has an eye on January and the chance to bolster an increasingly patchwork squad.
Yet when it comes to winter business, there are few guarantees. The club will target a new centre-back, which Postecoglou has already said is a “priority”.
Marc Guehi is understood to be a long-term target amid the Crystal Palace defender’s England breakthrough. The chances of that coup, mid-season, is remote.
Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo, Bournemouth’s Lloyd Kelly and Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo are also high on the list and while there are rumblings over how obtainable they are at a reasonable fee, all are seen as more realistic immediate targets.
The need is greater than ever after Romero’s setback, with the defender set to undergo an assessment in the coming days to determine how long he will be out for.
At the time Davinson Sanchez was sold, it felt the right move – now Spurs may turn to academy product Ashley Phillips, who has been a recurring face on the bench this season, but who is still just 18 years old and who Postecoglou is reluctant to rush into the first team. Had Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal not been disallowed by VAR for a foul on Emerson Royal in the build-up, more serious conversations would be had about Eric Dier’s failure to close him down.
There is a natural reluctance to solve temporary problems with permanent solutions. Micky Van de Ven and James Maddison are on course to return in January, though Postecoglou admits it is “hard to say” exactly when.
Things currently look a little worse than they really are due to suspensions: Destiny Udogie picked up his fifth booking of the season against Nottingham Forest and Bissouma is now serving a four-game ban, his third suspension of the season and all before Christmas. Even Romero has never managed that.
Concern will remain, however, at how a midfield duo of Oliver Skipp and Sarr struggled for control – and that was without having to contend with injured Abdoulaye Doucoure, who has been a force of nature in Everton’s revival and is still the Toffees’ top scorer in the league.
On one occasion when Skipp lost possession, a man in a black beanie hat could be seen yelling frantically from the stands. Sat with the rest of Spurs’ walking wounded, it was Rodrigo Bentancur. Everton kept coming, and at times only Guglielmo Vicario’s acrobatics kept them out.
Whether Spurs can survive a relatively quiet January depends partly on their aims, but victory has moved them back into the top four.
A spate of injuries and absences could be blamed for their November collapse, when they lost three successive games to Chelsea, Wolves and Aston Villa. Results already look considerably brighter.
Few Premier League clubs are expecting major overhauls next month regardless in a notoriously difficult window to get business done.
Whether talking of refereeing decisions or transfers, Postecoglou is not one for excuses either way. It is his crisis management (Spurs’ brief blip was only ever a mini-crisis, at that) that means there is little sense of panic whatever happens in the coming weeks.
But in north London, perhaps there is something to be savoured while it’s oh so quiet. On the Tottenham High Road, the “ENIC OUT” displays that were once a feature opposite the ground have disappeared. The anti-Levy balloons that made their way onto the pitch at the start of the season are a distant memory.
Postecoglou remains determined to bring in reinforcements and there is no question Spurs could do with them. Will it make or break their season? They might just surprise you.