Sun 07 November 2021, 09:30
Tottenham HotspurAntonio Conte takes charge of his first Premier League game as our Head Coach today as we head to Everton (2pm kick-off).
Here in the Notebook, take a look at all of the key points of note ahead of the game…
1 - Conte unbeaten against Everton
Antonio Conte has never lost a game against Everton. He’s faced the Toffees five times in his career so far – all during his spell at Chelsea – and won four (D1), with his side scoring 12 goals across those matches, keeping four clean sheets and conceding just once. In his two trips to Goodison Park, he won the first 3-0 before drawing the second 0-0.
2 - Benitez on top at home
While Antonio’s record against Everton is strong, in his two trips to face a team managed by Rafael Benitez so far, he has not prevailed. First travelling to take on a Benitez side while in charge of Juventus in March, 2014, our Italian boss fell 2-0 to Napoli. In their latest meeting – away to Benitez’s Newcastle on the final day of the 2017/18 season – he suffered a 3-0 loss while in charge in Chelsea. However, when at home, Antonio has come out on top, winning three out of three meetings with the Spaniard.
3 - Sticky situation for the Toffees
Despite enjoying a fine start to the campaign, winning three of their first four (D1), Everton have since triumphed just once in the Premier League – and that was a 2-0 win over Norwich City back in September. They have also lost each of their last three games. Heading into Sunday’s encounter though, just one point and one place separate us and the Toffees, with us holding the slim advantage.
4 - Blue days for Everton against Spurs
The Toffees have struggled when coming up against us in recent years. In our last 17 meetings with Everton in the Premier League, our hosts have enjoyed just one victory. Meanwhile, on our trips to Goodison Park since December, 2012, we are unbeaten, having won three and drawn five times.
Classic match: Everton 2-6 Spurs - December, 2018
5 - Record home defeats for Everton?
So far in 2021, Everton have lost nine league games at Goodison Park. Only three times in their history have they reached double figures in home defeats in the same calendar year (1929, 1958 and 1993).
6 - Our record against Benitez
Rafael Benitez returned to the Premier League this summer to take the hot seat at Everton – his fourth managerial job in England. His first game in charge of a club in England’s top flight came against us as he brought his Liverpool side to face us in August, 2004 – it finished 1-1. It started a run of just two defeats in 14 games against us (W7 D5), however he has lost each of his four meetings with us since.
Last time out against Benitez...
7 - Harry’s Everton strikes
In his Premier League career, Harry Kane has scored 11 goals in just 12 appearances against Everton – and that includes five braces. Only Alan Shearer, against Leeds, has scored more multiple goals in more games against a specific opponent in the competition than Harry (six braces, one hat-trick).
8 - Townsend reunion
Today, we’ll be reunited with former Spur Andros Townsend. Andros – who graduated from our Academy in 2011 and went on to make almost a century of appearances for our first team, scoring 11 times, before joining Newcastle United in 2016 – moved to Goodison Park in the summer after five years at Crystal Palace. Since departing north London in 2016, the winger has faced us 11 times in the Premier League but has yet to either score or assist a goal against us. He has been on the losing side in eight of those meetings, winning just once.
9 - Out of London
While our record in London derbies this season is well documented, outside of the capital, we have enjoyed our travels. In our last seven trips outside of London, we have lost just once (W4 D2), and have won each of our last three such games.
10 - Conte: Every second counts
Antonio Conte and his coaching team have not had long to prepare for today’s trip to Everton.
Having had minimal time to work with his new players ahead of our 3-2 Europa Conference League win over Vitesse on Thursday, our new Head Coach was straight into Hotspur Way on Friday morning for an extensive session with the players as he wanted to make every second count to implement his Goodison plan.
“We played Thursday night, on Friday morning we watched a video with the positive and negative things that happened, and I know that the players can be a bit tired after the game but when you don’t have the time you have to try to exploit every second of the day,” he explained. “The most important thing is to have the will to work, the enthusiasm to do this with the players and for this reason, I ask for patience, because we need a bit of time. The Club have had a great vision to build an important stadium, a fantastic training ground and we need to build something important on the pitch. We need a bit of time, but we want to do it.”
