A Game Of Two Halves

This was a proverbial 'Game of Two Halves'. Tottenham bossed the first half and absolutely controlled it, while Everton made a dramatic turnaround to control the second. In the first half, seriously it looked like Tottenham was the home team instead, as they were calling the tunes, making the plays and basically winning all the 50-50 balls.

Andros Townsend, the man of the moment, had another excellent affair, dancing round defenders on the right touchline and looking a proper danger throughout. This guy looks like he'll be a real key player in England's quest for World Cup glory next June in Brazil. Spurs' defence has been their strength this season, and generally in this game, they proved their mettle again. Romanian star Vlad Chiriches looks like the real deal after a slightly nervy start to his Premier League career; he looks strong and steadfast in the tackle. Must say that skipper Michael Dawson has also emerged as a very solid Premiership defender after many years toiling away in the Spurs' ranks. Always very strong in the air, he has now improved his ground competencies and is a major feature of Spurs' strong start this season.

For Everton, they finally woke up from their deep slumber and played well in the second half, passing the ball around with their customary smoothness and bringing Baines and Pienaar to cohesion on the left flank. I think Martinez made some good substitutions (which I doubt Moyes would have made) by bringing on the offensive-minded Ross Barkley, Gerard Deulofeu and the obviously-hungry Nikica Jelavic. All of them helped to turn the tide in the home team's favour, with Deulofeu nearly rounding off a splendid, bamboozling run deep into the Spurs penalty area with a clipped finish that Lloris did well to save. In the past, Moyes would probably have turned defensive instead of going for the win by bringing on defensive-minded substitutions such as Johnny Heitinga, Bryan Oviedo or John Stones. That's the main difference this season in terms of mentality; and Everton look so much better for it.