Tottenham goal drought continues with Everton draw
Tottenham Hotspur's wait for a first Premier League goal of the season stretched into a fifth game after it played out a 0-0 draw with Everton.
A goalkeeping error at either end almost paved the way for a winner, with Antonin Kinsky making up for a loose pass by smothering Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's strike before Jordan Pickford tipped Lucas Bergvall's late effort wide.
Brennan Johnson also blazed over from a clear opening as Everton extended its unbeaten start to the season, but it was another frustrating result for Spurs, who played out a first 0-0 draw at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs came flying out of the blocks to keep Everton under early pressure and could have taken a fifth-minute lead, but Jan Paul van Hecke sent Andy Robertson's free-kick over the crossbar from close range.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles drilled wide from a half-clearance during Everton's first corner before Mateus Fernandes wildly fired over as he tried to get Spurs on top.
The first shots on target came on either side of half-time, with Kinsky pushing James Garner's free-kick away, while Fernandes was the first Spurs player to test Pickford, but after opening up a pocket of space outside the box, his shot was straight at the England goalkeeper.
Kinsky made himself big to block Thierno Barry's towering header at the other end shortly after, before Tyrique George's sweetly struck half-volley was blocked by the well-placed Rodrigo Bentancur.
Dewsbury-Hall should have broken the deadlock after Kinsky gifted him a loose pass, but the goalkeeper quickly made up for his error by rushing out to smother the hesitant shot.
Johnson fired over under little pressure in the Spurs box, but the hosts still had a chance to snatch it late on after Pickford's clearance was cut out. The England goalkeeper raced back to his line to push Bergvall's bending shot wide in the 89th minute.
Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi admitted his side is not in the best physical condition after the match, but urged his side not to lose even more confidence.
"Now is one of the moments in football when you rebuild a team, when you start late because we started together with [Omar] Marmoush, Savio, [Dominic] Solanke, [James] Maddison two Thursdays ago," he said.
"Now I think we played very well in the first 30 minutes. Then maybe we lost energy because our physical condition is not the best and we are working for that.
"We didn't shoot for the quality of play we showed. We have to shoot more time on goal. We have to work and analyse the decision-making because we made too many wrong decisions, but I think we played well.
"We played as a team. We didn't score, we didn't win, but today and Nottingham I think we played as a team.
"And I can't say nothing as an attitude, as a behaviour of the players, no, no. I said to stay calm, maybe to not lose the confidence because we are not scoring, we are not winning.
"Stay calm, improve, work hard and individually try to understand where is the improvement, no?"
Meanwhile, Everton boss David Moyes praised Pickford and the rest of the Everton team for showing resilience.
"We were under the cosh from the first minute. But the players stuck at it," Moyes said.
"Tottenham were desperately looking for a win. As were we, but them being at home put us under the pressure. We coped brilliantly well.
"I don't think the goalkeeper had many saves to make. We had to fill the box and reduce the spaces for them. Tottenham played well and made it difficult for us.
"With the boys at the back and the goalkeeper, there is real resilience to make sure we do not concede any goals. The goalkeeper [Pickford] has got a great record for clean sheets and he got one today as well."
