🏏 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 17:30 BST
Tottenham Hotspur
vs
Everton
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
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- Tottenham could hardly have started worse: one point from three games and a goal difference of -5 leaves them 18th, level on points with Fulham but behind on goal difference and inside the relegation zone. Everton arrive ninth on five points, unbeaten with one win and two draws. Leaders Manchester City already have nine points from three, so for Spurs this is simply about a first win and a first goal of the campaign.
- Spurs have yet to score this season. They were beaten 3-0 at Brentford on the opening weekend, lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle and drew 0-0 at Nottingham Forest last time out. Dominic Solanke (28, 187cm), signed for a club-record fee after scoring 19 goals at Bournemouth, again leads the line and must turn his hold-up and link play into end product.
- Everton's unbeaten opening reads 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace, 1-1 away at Bournemouth and 2-2 with Manchester United, five goals scored and three conceded in three matches. Those five points put them alongside Newcastle in eighth and Leeds in tenth, and they travel to north London with an unbeaten record to protect.
- The night's biggest sub-plot is Brennan Johnson. The 25-year-old Wales winger left Tottenham for Everton in a club-record £35m deal and starts on the right of the visitors' attacking three, having scored in a Europa League final during his Spurs years. His straight-line pace will be pointed directly at the club that sold him.
- Both teams line up in a 4-2-3-1, so the double-pivot duel matters. Sandro Tonali (26), the Italy international dubbed the 'new Pirlo' after spells at Milan and Newcastle, partners Rodrigo Bentancur (29), a three-time Serie A winner with Juventus. Everton counter with James Garner (25), a Manchester United academy graduate, and 19-year-old Harrison Armstrong, who has been in Everton's academy since the age of five.
- Solanke runs into a stubborn centre-back pairing. Jarrad Branthwaite (24) is a 195cm left-footed England international who dominates in the air, while captain James Tarkowski (33) built his reputation under Sean Dyche at Burnley on positional discipline and heading strength. Where Spurs can find a platform against that duo may determine whether the goal drought ends.
- Two of Spurs' three attacking midfielders arrived via Manchester City. Egypt forward Omar Marmoush (27) tore up the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt before moving to City in January 2025, while Brazil winger Savinho (22) made his name on loan at Girona with his left-footed dribbling and cut-ins. Between them sits Mateus Fernandes (22), the Portugal midfielder bought from Southampton for more than £40m, whose ball-carrying is meant to drive the team up the pitch.
- The flank battles are intriguing. Andrew Robertson (32), Scotland's captain and formerly Liverpool's vice-captain, fills the Spurs left and comes face to face with Johnson. On the opposite side, 20-year-old Archie Gray, a Leeds academy product and a central midfielder by trade, operates at right-back against Tyrique George, the 20-year-old on loan from Chelsea.
- Both benches carry genuine weight. Spurs can call on set-piece specialist James Maddison (29), Ghana dribbler Mohammed Kudus (26) and Mathys Tel (21), signed permanently from Bayern Munich. Everton hold back Jack Grealish (31), still working his way back from a broken leg, Tyler Dibling (20), a club-record signing from Southampton, and Hayden Hackney (24), voted the Championship's player of the season in 2025-26.
- The goalkeeping contrast is stark. Antonín Kinský (23, 190cm), the Czech international signed from Slavia Prague in January 2025, guards the Tottenham goal, with 37-year-old Martin Dúbravka waiting on the bench. Everton have England's first-choice Jordan Pickford (32), whose reflex saves, distribution and vocal leadership have organised this back line for years.