Tottenham 4 Everton 0: Jordan Pickford howler sparks nightmare afternoon as Spurs run riot in Dominic Solanke’s absence

WHATEVER Ange Postecoglou said on the training ground this week worked a treat.

Because five days after Tottenham’s dreadful finishing cost them dearly at Leicester, they looked a different team in front of goal.

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Imagine how good they will be when Dominic Solanke returns from injury.

Even after Cristian Romero, James Maddison and Brennan Johnson missed early sitters, helped by debutant Wilson Odobert’s explosive start, this was never ending up like Monday.

Because Everton never win in August and Spurs were brilliant.

The visitors were so bad that even Yves Bissouma scored for his first Tottenham goal and in doing so took his first steps to making amends with Postecoglou.

The week after being dropped for the trip to Leicester for his shameful inhaling laughing gas video, Bissouma let his feet do the talking with a stunning opener.

While he owed plenty to Dejan Kulusevski’s terrific footwork, Bissouma’s finish was not bad either, flying in off the bar.

His response was an apology to the Spurs fans and a hug for Postecoglou.

Bissouma’s moment of magic came less than 24 hours after the Tottenham boss asked him to start his redemption act.

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And this was the perfect response.

But if Jordan Pickford could do nothing about Spurs’ opener, their second was a horrible moment for the England goalkeeper.

For all his heroics over the years, Pickford has never quite been able to eradicate this type of moment from his game.

He had earlier looked unbeatable as he kept out Tottenham time and time again.

But he almost single-handedly chucked the game away for Everton when he switched off midway through the opening period.

In seemingly no danger from a simple Michael Keane pass, Pickford took a needlessly heavy touch under pressure from Son Heung-min, allowing the South Korean to nip in for his first goal in August since 2021.

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The Tottenham man will not score an easier one all season.

For Everton, it was latest nightmare moment in what is already turning into a campaign of them – even just two games in.

But Spurs are never home and dry under Postecoglou, so those inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could be forgiven for getting anxious when the Toffees enjoyed a promising late spell at the end of the first half.

After all, it was heading for a carbon copy of this exact fixture back in December.

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On that occasion, Postecoglou’s side also led 2-0 and looked like blowing Everton away, but ultimately needed some Guglielmo Vicario heroics in the end to hang on to a narrow victory.

There were some more hairy moments with Vicario forced to keep out Jesper Lindstrom, while Spurs’ vulnerability from set pieces was put to the test by a physical Toffees outfit.

But just when those anxiety levels seemed to be rising, Romero decided enough was enough and put the result beyond doubt.

Tottenham have so often looked exposed from dead ball situations during Postecoglou’s reign but showed they can also do some damage themselves.

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Maddison sent over the delivery and Romero leapt above everyone to power past Pickford on his 100th appearance for the club.

Spurs’ centre-backs were not finished there though.

Micky van de Ven, clearly feeling left out, won the ball back on the edge of his own box before using his lightning speed to quite literally run the entire length of the pitch before picking the perfect moment to release the unmarked Son.

And when you give the Tottenham captain that type of space, there is often only one outcome.

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Son needed no second invitation as he confidently fired under Pickford to make it four, putting the Everton fans that had stayed finally out of their misery.

Four goals and a clean sheet, it was like Tottenham from 12 months ago.

It was also their biggest victory in front of their own fans since thumping Leicester 6-2 under Antonio Conte almost two years ago when Maddison was in the away dressing room.

And Tottenham badly needed this result.

The season might be just two games old, but they travel to Newcastle next weekend before welcoming bitter rivals Arsenal to N17.

Throw in a date at Old Trafford before the end of September for good measure, failing to get over the line here could have made for a slow start to the season.

As it was, there was only ever going to be one winner here, the only thing up for debate was how many Spurs would get.