Big win against Toffees in first home game

Yves Bissouma opened his Spurs goalscoring account and Cristian Romero netted on his 100th appearance for us as we cruised to a 4-0 victory against Everton on Saturday afternoon.

It was the perfect way to open our home campaign in this season’s Premier League as Bissouma, unavailable for last week’s draw at Leicester City, crashed home the first goal on his return to the team before Heung-Min Son capitalised on a Jordan Pickford error to double our lead at the break.

Romero then marked his milestone match with a fine header, while skipper Son rounded off the scoring with a fourth following a great run by Micky van de Ven. Wilson Odobert also made a promising debut following his capture from Burnley recently.

Similar to Monday night at the King Power Stadium, we made a fast start and created plenty of chances, this time finding a crucial two-goal cushion by half-time. Just three minutes in, Son clipped a ball over the top which Romero controlled on his chest but rifled straight at Pickford from 10 yards out, while Son’s attempted curler flicked off Dwight McNeil and had Pickford scampering across his goal to push away for a corner.

Romero then found James Maddison on the edge of the area but Pickford was quick off his line to smother his effort and in the next phase of play, Maddison picked out Brennan Johnson with a cross from the left but he diverted his header just wide. A fully deserved opening goal arrived on 14 minutes, Bissouma crashing home a thunderous strike from 20 yards out, in off the crossbar after some fantastic intricate footwork from Dejan Kulusevski to set him up. It was his first Spurs goal on his 57th appearance in our colours.

Everton, who suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Brighton on the opening weekend, almost immediately drew level but Jack Harrison fluffed his volley at the back post and instead, we doubled our lead after 25 minutes. It came from Roman Dixon’s throw in back to James Tarkowski, who passed it back to Pickford and that was the signal for Son to sprint towards the goalkeeper. The Everton number one looked far too casual as he took a touch and our skipper simply flew past him, nicked the ball away and rolled it into an empty net.

A Sean Dyche side is always a danger from set pieces and that was certainly the case in the closing minutes of the half, Tarkowski twice going close with towering back post headers from corners before Maddison had to clear off the line from an Abdoulaye Doucoure effort.

After a fairly quiet start to the second period, the visitors had another good opportunity on 58 minutes but Guglielmo Vicario made a fine diving save to keep out Jesper Lindstrom’s angled drive and, shortly after Maddison had curled a 20-yard free-kick just wide, we added our third of the afternoon. This one was as straight-forward as you could want, Maddison delivering a corner into the six-yard box in the 71st minute and Romero climbed highest to head home, again in off the crossbar.

And six minutes later it was 4-0. Van de Ven intercepted a pass inside his own ‘D’ and burst 80 yards upfield before slipping the ball to Son, who took a touch and slid it between Pickford’s legs and into the back of the net to round off a great afternoon in N17.

Team news saw Ange Postecoglou make three changes from the team that started at Leicester as Odobert came in for his debut in place of the injured Dominic Solanke – and became Legacy Number 887 in the process – while Bissouma and Kulusevski were in for Rodrigo Bentancur (concussion protocol) and Pape Matar Sarr. Fraser Forster was also back on the bench after several months on the sidelines recovering from injury.

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Bissouma 14, Son 25, 77, Romero 71.

Referee: Anthony Taylor.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Thundery showers, gentle breeze, 17 degrees.

Attendance: 61,357.