Spurs close in on leaders after easing past Everton

Knowing a win would put them level with second-place Manchester United, Tottenham started nervously in the first half, but Lennon cut in from the right after getting on the end of Assou-Ekotto’s brilliant cross-field pass and slotted past Tim Howard to open the scoring.

The full-back then added a second just after the hour when he blasted a 30-yard shot which flew past Howard via a slight deflection off Tim Cahill.

The game, rearranged due to last year’s riots, started with Spurs’ Younes Kaboul failing to clear his lines, giving Louis Saha a shooting chance with less than a minute on the clock but his effort dribbled wide.

Everton controlled the match for the opening 15 minutes, but, at the other end, Gareth Bale galloped through in the 25th minute and squared to the unmarked Emmanuel Adebayor, but he miscontrolled and the chance was gone. Spurs had a couple of penalty shouts and Adebayor shot wide before Van der Vaart curled a wicked shot on to the roof of the net in the 34th minute.

Their pressure paid off a minute later when Lennon picked up Assou-Ekotto’s pass and drifted past two defenders before shooting past Howard to give the home side the lead.

In the second half, Marouane Fellaini headed over for Everton, but it was Spurs who doubled their lead in the 63rd minute through a fortunate goal from Assou-Ekotto.

The full-back cut inside from the wing and, after being given time by the Everton defence, cracked a 30-yard shot which deflected off Cahill’s backside and flew past a wrong-footed Howard. It was the Cameroonian’s first goal since the opening day of the 2009-10 season.

Modric powered a shot at Howard with ten minutes left and Adebayor jinked past an Everton defender to lay off to Pienaar, but the South African was not on the same wavelength.

A clumsy tackle from Kaboul on Drenthe led to another penalty shout, but again the referee waved play on. Cahill saw yellow late on for clipping Modric’s heels.