Everton travel to face Tottenham Hotspur riding a wave of confidence after Ainsley Maitland-Niles snatched a late winner against Manchester United, but they arrive in London to face a Spurs side desperate for a turnaround. With the transfer window now shut, focus shifts back to league business, and Tottenham’s start to the season has badly undershot expectations despite heavy summer spending. Roberto De Zerbi’s team have taken just a single point from three matches, beaten by both Brentford and Newcastle and held scoreless by Nottingham Forest, and they still haven’t scored a Premier League goal all season. The question for Everton is whether they can capitalize on that malaise rather than becoming the side that helps Spurs find their feet again.
In their last outing, Tottenham were frustrated at the City Ground, where a Neco Williams goal for Forest was chalked off and Spurs failed to force a single shot on target despite a few sniffs at the other end — another toothless display up front.
Across their long history, Everton hold a slight edge with 85 wins to Tottenham’s 74 and 60 draws from 192 meetings, but the recent trend favors Spurs heavily: the Toffees have won just once in the last eleven encounters, a 3-2 thriller at Goodison Park in January 2025. The most recent clash, on the final day of last season, saw Tottenham edge it 1-0 in a result that helped them stay up — notably still their only home league win in all of 2026.
Spurs’ form over their last six games paints a picture of inconsistency: a loss to Chelsea, that narrow win over Everton, a heavy 3-0 defeat to Brentford, a 5-1 thrashing of Charlton Athletic, a 0-2 loss to Newcastle, and the goalless draw with Forest. The Charlton rout hinted at attacking quality, but that’s evaporated in the league, where they’ve shipped five goals in their first two matches and gone three straight games without scoring.
Richarlison, long a nightmare matchup for Everton and last season’s top scorer for Spurs, won’t be a factor this time — a proposed move back to Everton fell through before deadline day, and he’s since been dropped from the Premier League squad, leaving his future unclear. Instead, Everton’s backline will need to watch Omar Marmoush, whose movement and ability between the lines could trouble Branthwaite, Tarkowski and the midfield whenever he drifts deep.
There’s real opportunity here for Everton. De Zerbi’s expansive, high-risk approach tends to leave gaps at the back — evident even against Forest, and glaring in the defeats to Brentford and Newcastle. Everton have generally created enough to threaten; converting those chances has been the issue. Tyrique George should be buoyed by his goal against United, and David Moyes will hope Jack Grealish can turn his promising cameo into a fuller performance. With Spurs short on goals, confidence and consistency, the task for Everton is simple: keep them right where they are.
