Everton vs Tottenham report: Dele Alli goal cancels out Aaron Lennon's opener in entertaining draw

Everton 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Dele Alli celebrates his brilliant equaliser on the stroke of half-time (Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur may be ahead of schedule under Mauricio Pochettino – Dele Alli certainly is – but a goal of the highest quality by the teenage midfielder to earn a point here demonstrated why nobody should dismiss the prospect of the Premier League trophy ending up at White Hart Lane this season.

As Spurs defender Toby Alderweireld insisted after the game, this may ultimately prove to be two points dropped in the final reckoning, but the performance of Pochettino’s players suggested that Arsenal, Manchester City and Leicester will do well to pull clear of this team.

Both Everton and Tottenham could have won and lost the game in a pulsating final 60 seconds, but Spurs travelled back to north London having proved their mettle and their depth of quality. Alli, at 19, will be crucial to Tottenham’s hopes of success, especially if he continues to play with the carefree nature of a young prospect with the world at his feet.

After they had seen Roberto Martinez’s team lose successive home games against Stoke and Leicester, conceding seven goals in the process, during the Christmas period, the anxiety of the Everton supporters was palpable as Spurs arrived aiming to extend an unbeaten away run stretching back to the opening day of the season. That defeat, a 1-0 loss at Manchester United following Kyle Walker’s own goal, was barely merited, but it has been a testament to the resolve and quality of Pochettino’s players that have they since been able to mount a serious title challenge.

Goodison Park remains a test of any visiting team, however, and Spurs would have to be able to emerge with a positive result to provide further evidence of their durability for the months ahead.

Tottenham have yet to banish their reputation as a club prone to wobble in the second half of the season, but they will have few better chances to do that than the opportunity which currently presents itself. Not since Peter Shreeves’ team visited Goodison as leaders of the old First Division on New Year’s Day in 1985 have Spurs approached the halfway stage in such a promising position and their belief was clear in the opening stages as they dictated the tempo deep inside Everton territory.

The home side were not set up to contain and hit Spurs on the counter-attack, but they were simply unable to escape their own half, with Alli, Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela retaining possession and using it with intent.

The game was nine minutes old when Spurs first threatened to score, with Harry Kane rattling Tim Howard’s far post with an audacious angled strike from 25 yards. Howard was beaten, but the post saved the Everton goalkeeper, denying Kane his first goal of 2016, having ended 2015 as the leading scorer in the calendar year in the Premier League with 27 goals.

When Howard caught a speculative lob by Alli moments later, the cheers which greeted the American’s efforts – a barbed reaction to his errors during the 4-3 defeat against Stoke – prompted the goalkeeper to turn round and glare at his tormentors, merely adding to the mood of edginess inside the ground.

Aaron Lennon unleashes his venomous first-half strike (Getty Images)

But the growing tension lifted on 22 minutes when Everton opened the scoring, against the run of play, with a stunning goal finished off by the former Spurs winger Aaron Lennon. Tom Cleverley’s crossfield pass to Romelu Lukaku deserved a decisive contribution by the Belgian and he delivered, heading the ball down to Lennon, whose right-foot shot beat goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and nestled in the far corner for his first goal since April.

Jan Vertonghen may have had a valid argument to suggest a Lukaku nudge had distracted him at the key moment, but referee Michael Oliver judged it to be classic centre-forward physicality, and rightly so.

It was Lukaku’s fifth assist of the season, adding to his 15 goals, just in case there were any doubts as to his importance to Martinez’s team.

Despite going ahead, Everton continued to play to a subdued home crowd, with every misplaced pass prompting howls of derision and Spurs took advantage by quickly regaining the upper hand in midfield. Pochettino’s team simply probed away in search of the equaliser, patiently looking for openings, and Eriksen went close with an angled shot which was deflected behind on 26 minutes. Full-back Ben Davies then sent a 25-yard strike crashing against the crossbar on the half-hour after receiving the ball directly from Eriksen’s corner.

Mauricio Pochettino and Roberto Martinez watch on (Getty Images)

Everton were on the ropes, but just as they looked set to reach the sanctuary of half-time with their lead intact, Alli pounced with another outstanding goal. Alderweireld’s pass from inside his own half was majestic, but Alli’s chest-trap and volley matched it for artistic elegance. By taking the ball and shooting in one swift movement, Alli took Seamus Coleman out of the game and Howard had no chance with the England man’s crisp finish.

Having conceded their lead, Everton struggled to regain a foothold and Spurs twice went close to a second through Kane and Eriksen early in the second half.

But a tactical switch on 60 minutes, when Martinez introduced Muhamed Besic and Gerard Deulofeu in place of Lennon and Arouna Koné, swung the pendulum towards the home side, who began to attack the visitors.

Besic was denied a stunning goal on 79 minutes, when Lloris acrobatically tipped the Bosnian’s 20-yard volley over the crossbar, and Ramiro Funes Mori sent a far-post header just wide from the corner which followed.

Spurs held firm and chased a winner in stoppage time, with substitute Son Heung-min seeing a 20-yard shot blocked before Lukaku raced clear from the rebound, attempting to score a winner at the other end. On his left foot and with the far corner gaping, the Everton forward was unable to find the clinical touch he has shown so often this season, but a winner for the home side would have been a travesty.