Tottenham Women 1-0 Everton: stunner from Naz sees Spurs to WSL win

Tottenham Hotspur Women sent 2021 off in style, defeating Everton at The Hive 1-0 today, keeping their hold on third place in the WSL and their undefeated home record intact. Jessica Naz scored a beauty of a kick in the top corner to give Spurs the win in what was a hard-fought and quite even battle. The win was Tottenham’s first over Everton in the top flight of English women’s football.

Match Highlights

First Half

1’ — Early shot from Everton’s Lucy Graham, but it’s easily collected by Korpela.

10’ — A cagy opening for both sides. This match is being played at a high tempo but neither side is really finding much going forward. Everton probably edging it at present.

14’ — Yellow card on Jessica Naz.

16’ — Everton with a couple of half-chances — the first corner of the game, and soon after a long free kick that is headed wide of the mark by George. Spurs mostly playing in their area.

21’ — First real chance of the game and it comes from Everton. Anvegard gets on the end of a cross into the box and heads it at goal, but Korpela makes a nice save.

26’ — Another shot from Everton, this time from Toni Duggan, and another save from Korpela.

29’ — Spurs get their first shot of the match a half hour in, and it’s from Naz who latches onto a ball just outside the box. Brosnan goes low to make the save.

31’ — Another outstanding save from Korpela, who palms away a long range effort from Clinton.

38’ — Yellow card shown for Everton’s Clinton after she hacked down Naz on a break. Percival’s free kick falls to Rachel Williams and it’s OFF THE POST!

44’ — Another yellow for Everton, this time on Lucy Graham who pulled back Naz on another counter. Free kick AGAIN finds Williams’ head, but it’s wide.

HALFTIME — A hard fought match between these two sides. Everton looked like the better side on balance, but Spurs came back and looked pretty good in the last 10-15 minutes. Interested to see what Skinner will do at the break.

Second half

45’ — Early chance from Everton. Christiansen puts a cross into the box for Duggan, who gets a glancing header. Korpela makes a straightforward save.

51 — GOAL TOTTENHAM! Jessica Naz with a beauty on the break! She gets a half step on her defender and lofts a top drawer shot into the top corner over Brosnan! 1-0 Spurs!

56’ — Yellow card on Ash Neville for a robust challenge in midfield.

59’ — Josie Green took a shot to the face at close range from a clearance by Zadorsky. She’s down receiving treatment. Owwwwwww.

62’ — Double sub for Everton — Bennison and Magill in for Anvegard and Clinton.

68’ — A couple of good plays from Spurs. The first some nice passing interplay around Everton’s box, though the Toffees were able to punch away the final ball. Then on a corner, Williams gets another header on goal that’s saved.

69’ — Another chance from Spurs! Percival finds Naz on the break who fires a pinpoint cross to the back post. Cho was there but couldn’t get a sliding touch on the ball. Nearly two!

71’ — Sub for Spurs: Josie Green is out, Chioma Ubogagu is in. Right away she puts a nice cross into the box that is headed out for a Spurs corner.

82’ — Sub for Everton — Galli in for Pattinson.

84’ — Sub for Spurs — Angela Addison is on for Cho So-hyun.

86’ — Injury sub for Everton — Maier is on for Izzy Christiansen, who limped off the pitch.

90’ — EIGHT minutes of extra time to be played, mostly due to the extensive treatment of Josie Green earlier in the half.

93’ — Long shot from Everton’s Lucy Graham, but it’s straight at Korpela, who catches easily.

96’ — Ubogagu and Naz combine going forward. Naz has a chance to take a shot but passes it up to square a ball across goal; the chance fizzles.

FULL TIME! Spurs stay undefeated at home in the WSL this season, and add their first ever top flight win over Everton to boot. The final score is 1-0!

Match reactions

• That was a good win against an Everton team that’s a lot better than what their record suggests. They took it to Tottenham in the first half, and while Spurs got the win, a draw would not have been unfair.
• Another excellent match from Jessica Naz, who after a slow start (along with the rest of the team) really did well in the second half. Much of what Spurs did well going forward came through Naz, and her goal was absolutely top bins.
• Also impressed with the defense on the whole. The xG of this match isn’t available yet, but I can’t imagine it was that high, despite Everton going close on a couple of attempts and outplaying Spurs in the first half.
• Rachel Williams was pretty dominant in the air on set pieces today. Not all of them were particularly close efforts, but she was out-jumping her Everton opponent consistently. It’s clearly something they’ve worked on in training.
• The win keeps Spurs in third place in the WSL, two points ahead of United. A good way to send off 2021! Their next match is a toughie — at Chelsea on January 7. A very good test of how good Spurs really are this season.