Amidst an atmosphere like no other, Spurs began with the type of determination that had been sorely missing for much of a wretched home campaign that had seen them win just twice on their own turf.
Conor Gallagher came within inches of giving Spurs a dream start, firing into the side netting under pressure from Merlin Rohl as Everton scrambled to defend.
Then came another huge miss just seven minutes later, as Pedro Porro’s free kick was flicked by Rodrigo Bentancur into the path of Joao Palhinha, who fired wildly over.
A much-needed water break in the 30-degree conditions slightly halted Spurs’ early momentum, and only some slightly panicked backtracking prevented Iliman Ndiaye from getting anything more telling than a corner, as the Senegalese forward shimmied past Destiny Udogie and Micky van de Ven, who deflected the ball out of play.
But it was from a corner kick at the other end that Spurs would net one of their most celebrated goals of all time, when Mathys Tel swung in and a Palhinha header against the far post came back to him, allowing him to fire in at the second attempt, with the shot clearly over the line.
Having easily held out for only their second half-time lead in 18 PL games, Spurs might have secretly fancied their chances of finishing the job – more especially when considering that Everton had conceded exactly twice in each of their previous five away games.
And while a four-minute delay for technical reasons might have been disruptive, Spurs only continued dictating the tempo, sitting four points above the dreaded dotted line as the hour mark came.
However, that cushion would be halved thanks to strikes from Taty Castellanos and Jarrod Bowen over in the East End. With thousands of phones relaying that news back to N17, the formerly buoyant atmosphere was rather diluted, and almost on cue, Everton – who saw Seamus Coleman put on the captain’s armband for the final time – started to look less like mere bit players.
That said, the Toffees – save for vital interventions from Van de Ven and Antonin Kinsky – seldom looked like getting the two goals they needed to condemn Spurs to the drop, ultimately giving Spurs their 12th, and most important, win in 17 home H2Hs.
After nine agonising minutes of extra time, the final whistle confirmed Spurs' salvation, and it is West Ham who will see the dreaded ‘Lincoln away’ on their 2026/27 fixture list, despite adding a late third against Leeds.
However, this marks only the beginning of a long and painful recovery process for Spurs. They have finished 17th for a second season running, and without that lucrative backdoor to the UEFA Champions League to compensate this time around, it could be a very different Spurs team that emerges from the tunnel in three months’ time.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Joao Palhinha (Tottenham)
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