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Three takeaways from Everton 2 Tottenham 2

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - APRIL 16: Richarlison of Everton and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg of Tottenham Hotspur in action during the Premier League match between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park on April 16, 2021 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - APRIL 16: Richarlison of Everton and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg of Tottenham Hotspur in action during the Premier League match between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park on April 16, 2021 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus/Getty Images) /
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Everton dropped another two points on Friday night with that 2-2 draw against Tottenham so what are the three key things that result highlighted?

Home Form

This latest draw represented yet another disappointing result at Goodison Park as Everton failed to win at the grand old lady for the eleventh time this season!

The Toffees have lost a staggering eight times at Goodison Park so far this season and the last three points at home was on the 1st March when they beat Southampton 1-0. That’s simply not good enough for a side supposedly aspiring to Europe and winning trophies.

And it’s not as if most of those results have been against the top teams either. In fact the Blues have lost to Leeds, West Ham, Newcastle United, Fulham and Burnley and were held to a draw by Crystal Palace. All of those were matches that could and in most cases should, have been won.

All those home defeats will I think in all probability prove decisive in preventing Everton securing European football next season.

There are all sorts of possible reasons for this collapse in what was previously an excellent home record, the most obvious one given is the absence of fans in stadiums. Results for away teams have been unusually good this campaign, including Everton’s own much-improved away form.

However, this doesn’t seem to fully explain it when you remember that of course every club has had to deal with no fans and the other sides competing in the top half have all managed to win more than they lose at home.

In fact the only teams with a worst home record than the Blues during this strange and compressed season are all in the bottom half of the table.

So what else could be going on? I don’t know but one thing that concerns me is that when fans do return in significant numbers, there will be even more pressure on the players to turn that form around so that ironically having supporters back might actually work against the team.

Goodison Park can be a difficult place at the best of times because sometimes the crowd get frustrated with poor play and that can be transmitted to the players and can inhibit them leading to further poor play, costly mistakes and bad results. It’s a bit of a vicious circle.

The quality of play in the last two matches against Palace and Spurs was much better than previous Goodison games and that is cause for hope. But it’s critical to turn performances into points and again that is still not happening at home.

Whether the problem is something related to the lack of fans or an issue around motivation or concentration I don’t know but that home form must improve next season.