Despite the majority of the talk before the game being of Manchester United wanting Mauricio Pochettino to replace Mourinho, the Argentine coach seemed very focused on his work with Spurs. And, apparently, so are his players.
The game at Goodison Park closed the 18th round of matches. Spurs have played twice on Sunday this year, with two defeats, and their performance against Everton could be a moment to look back on considering that Manchester City and Chelsea both lost, respectively at home versus Crystal Palace and versus Leicester.
Everton came into the game with two losses and two draws from the last four, which becomes three losses, three draws and two wins (both at home, against Cardiff and Brighton) if we consider the last eight games, although the difficulty of the calendar should be underlined (with tough and close matches against City, Liverpool and United, all of whom were away from home).
It’s been better for Spurs, who have won ten in the last twelve games, losing only to Arsenal in the North London Derby and drawing in the Champions League with Barcelona.
Marco Silva, after the interlude with three central defenders in the last game against City, returned back to his favourite formation, 4-2-3-1, which saw the return of Walcott on the left and the use of Davies in midfield instead of Gueye, who was forced to miss the second game in a row due to injury.
For Pochettino the formation was instead a very fluid 4-4-2 diamond, which changed four players compared to the previous match against Burnley, especially for the role alongside Alderweireld given to Davinson Sanchez, the first appearance from the beginning of November for the former Ajax centre back.
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