Tottenham 0-0 Everton: four league games, still no goal

Tottenham 0-0 Everton extended the strangest statistic of the Premier League season. Tottenham have now played four league matches and have not scored a goal in any of them. On Saturday evening, in front of 60,477 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, they had 62.3% of the ball and fourteen shots against Everton, and two of those shots were on target.

Everton left with a clean sheet and a point, their third draw in a row. They are unbeaten after four league matches, and on the evidence of the chances they probably came closer to winning this than Tottenham did: three shots on target to two, and the only header of the match that forced a save from close range.

Kinsky busier than Pickford

Neither goalkeeper had to make a save until first-half stoppage time, when James Garner hit a shot from outside the box that Antonín Kinsky saved in the bottom right corner. Five minutes into the second half Kinsky was called on again: Tyrique George crossed and Thierno Barry headed from the right side of the six-yard box, and the Tottenham goalkeeper saved at the top of his goal.

Kinsky made his third save on sixty-five minutes, from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the centre of the box. At the other end Jordan Pickford was called on only twice all evening, first for a Mateus Fernandes shot from outside the box on forty-seven minutes and then, with a minute of normal time left, for a Lucas Bergvall effort that he saved in the bottom right corner.

That was the sum of it: five saves in ninety minutes. Tottenham’s 62.3% of the ball produced fourteen shots and two on target. Everton, with 37.7%, had twelve shots and six corners, one more corner than Tottenham managed.

A triple change, and then Maddison

Tottenham tried to force it on sixty-three minutes with three substitutions at once: Bergvall replaced Rodrigo Bentancur, Mathys Tel came on for Dominic Solanke and Mohammed Kudus for Mateus Fernandes. James Maddison followed on seventy-seven minutes, in place of Omar Marmoush, and Tosin Adarabioyo replaced Archie Gray late on.

Everton’s first change was Jack Grealish, who came on for George on sixty-five minutes, and ten minutes later Hayden Hackney and Jake O’Brien replaced Brennan Johnson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Everton picked up both of the match’s yellow cards, for Dewsbury-Hall on sixty-eight minutes and Garner on eighty-four. Tottenham committed fourteen fouls to Everton’s eight and were not booked.

• Shots: Tottenham 14 (2 on target), Everton 12 (3 on target)
• Possession: Tottenham 62.3%, Everton 37.7%
• Saves: Antonín Kinsky (Tottenham) 3, Jordan Pickford (Everton) 2
• Corners: Tottenham 5, Everton 6
• Yellow cards: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and James Garner (both Everton)
• Attendance: 60,477

Four matches, no goals

Tottenham’s season so far reads: a 3-0 defeat at Brentford on the opening weekend, a 2-0 home defeat by Newcastle, a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest and now this. Two points, no goals scored, five conceded.

The two most recent results at least came with clean sheets. The goals are the problem. A week earlier at the City Ground Tottenham had twelve shots and put none of them on target. Here they had fourteen and put two on target. Only Tottenham and Coventry City have failed to score in the Premier League this season.

Tottenham are seventeenth in the table. Their next match is a Carabao Cup third-round tie at Liverpool on Tuesday. The cup has been kinder to them in front of goal: they beat Charlton Athletic 5-1 in the second round in August.

Everton’s run of draws

Everton are ninth with six points: a 2-0 home win over Crystal Palace on the opening weekend, a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth, a 2-2 draw at home to Manchester United and now a 0-0 away from home. Four league matches without defeat, and a third straight draw.

The first two of those draws were rescued very late. James Tarkowski equalised at Bournemouth in the ninety-first minute, and Maitland-Niles did the same against Manchester United in the ninety-sixth. This one needed no rescue: it was Everton’s second league clean sheet of the season, and the first in the league since that opening win against Palace.

Everton host Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. In the league they have not lost, and on Saturday Tottenham managed only two shots on target against them.

Simulate the rest of the Premier League season

Tottenham’s wait for a league goal and Everton’s unbeaten league start are two of the clearest trends of the opening month. On the Premier League simulator you can play the rest of the season out from the real table, or rerun this fixture through the AI simulator and see how often Tottenham finally score.

• Play the remaining 34 rounds from the real table and the real fixture list
• Simulate this week’s Carabao Cup third-round ties, including Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur
• Run any fixture through the AI match simulator, in tactical view or in the physics arena
• Open the line-up builder for both clubs before you kick off a simulation
• Turn an arena simulation into a vertical video ready to share

"Tottenham have had more of the ball in all four league matches this season. They have not scored in any of them."