Everton 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur
by James Nalton 
at Goodison Park

IT WAS Retro Day at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon and Everton produced something of a vintage first half to secure a much-needed win against Tottenham Hotspur.

Three goals for the home side, from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Iliman Ndiaye, and an Archie Gray own goal, gave them a vital three points, but the level of the performance was just as important.

Old favourite, David Moyes, was back in the dugout, and the first-half display harked back to his fondly remembered first spell managing the club between 2002 and 2013.

And if there’s one player Moyes and the fans will have wanted to get among the goals, it’s Calvert-Lewin, and it was he who opened the scoring.

As the ball came to him in the penalty area from Idrissa Gueye, he feigned to shoot once on his right foot and again on his left.

Recent form might have suggested this was too much dawdling and the chance may have gone but, on this occasion, the striker’s moves had fooled Spurs' defence and he slotted past Antonin Kinsky with confidence.

Ndiaye has been the standout performer in a bad Everton team this season, but this game was a glimpse of what it might look like with others performing well alongside him.

His driving run after receiving the ball from Gueye ended with an emphatic finish.

There was a feeling in Goodison Park, unfamiliar lately, that they were watching a good team take control of a game.

Though Moyes took over ahead of the midweek game against Aston Villa, this was the first game before which he had any real preparation time with the players.

It won’t have been much time, but it was enough to produce a very promising performance against a struggling Spurs.

Though Everton were still compact and well-organised, there was a new-look flexibility.

Jesper Lindstrom defined much of this new shape and was outstanding in a right-sided role that saw him on the right-wing in attack and drop to form a back five in defence.

It was his interception that led to the first goal, and his cross that produced Everton’s third. He received a standing ovation when replaced by Ashley Young in the second half.

Next to Lindstrom in that Everton backline was Jake O’Brien, making his first Premier League start for the club.

The 6-foot-6 Irishman, signed from Lyon in the summer for £17 million, played a role between that of a defensive right back and right centre back in a three and it worked well.

Everton fans sang Moyes’s name while Spurs fans sang “You’re nothing special, we lose every week.”

It was a reminder of the opposition’s weakened state, but regardless, there would previously have been little confidence in Everton winning such a game.

A late goal from Dejan Kulusevski tested Everton’s nerve, and a later goal from Richarlison tested it further, but there was to be no collapse on this occasion.

The result, and the team’s first-half performance, saw Everton fans leave the ground in good spirits — a rarity this season, and they hope it will be a sign of things to come.