Everton were held to a goalless draw by Tottenham at Goodison Park.
Johnson misses best chance as Woodgate makes debut
Everton were held to a goalless draw by Tottenham at Goodison Park.
Spurs handed a bow to Jonathan Woodgate and a league debut to Chris Gunter in defence, and they helped keep Everton at bay in what was a pretty poor Premier League affair.
Everton dominated the opening half, as Spurs struggled to get into the last third - but the home side failed to work Radek Cerny in the visitors' goal.
The poor fare continued into the second period aside from one great chance for Andy Johnson, which he failed to take as Cerny got down well to save.
Everton had Leighton Baines on the left of midfield, and he managed the first shot of the night, a 20-yard effort which was claimed by Cerny.
Furious
Then Steed Malbranque responded with an overhead kick which was held by Tim Howard as the game, if not the night, warmed up.
Victor Anichebe and Baines then had shots blocked in the six-yard box, before Phil Neville's cross reached Johnson - but his shot on the turn was held by Cerny.
Everton were furious in the 34th minute when Johnson went down in the box with Huddlestone close behind.
There were loud appeals for a penalty but neither linesman nor referee Andre Marriner were interested - and television replays showed barely any contact.
Two minutes into the second half Mikel Arteta worked his way past three defenders in the box to reach the line before firing a low cross into the six-yard box - and Anichebe's lunge missed connecting by inches.
Best save
Robbie Keane's 15-yard effort was then claimed by Howard, the ball reaching Spurs' top scorer after Neville had given the ball away to Berbatov seconds after an excellent interception.
Manuel Fernandes was beginning to get into the game and a couple of decent runs and 20-yard effort which went over underlined his growing midfield involvement.
Everton continued to push forward and Cerny produced the best save of the night, diving smartly to his left to block a Johnson effort from eight yards.
Spurs produced good pressure towards the end, with Berbatov seeing a header from a Lennon run and cross saved by Howard, but neither side deserved all three points.
| Everton |
Team Statistics |
Tottenham Hotspur |
| 0 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 2 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
0 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 7 |
Corners |
2 |
| 14 |
Fouls |
13 |
| 0 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 67.6 |
Passing Success |
72.4 |
| 22 |
Tackles |
32 |
| 77.3 |
Tackles Success |
78.1 |
| 45.6 |
Possession |
54.4 |
| 51.8 |
Territorial Advantage |
48.2 |
|
