Michael Keane went from Everton’s penalty villain to point-saving hero with a spectacular last-minute equaliser to drag his side out of the relegation zone.
Everton have shown they’re up for the fight under Sean Dyche but while the new Blues boss doesn’t mind his charges being up for the battle to stay in the Premier League, Abdoulaye Doucoure overstepped the mark at Goodison Park as his moment of madness tipped what had been a war of attrition in Tottenham Hotspur’s favour.
Although a first win against Spurs in front of fans for over a decade could have taken the hosts up to the relatively dizzying heights of 13th in the ridiculously truncated bottom half of the Premier League table, the point they needed to move out of the bottom three threatened to be thrown away when Doucoure was shown a straight red by referee David Coote on 58 minutes when he clashed with Harry Kane by the touchline and struck his opponent in the face.
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The England captain went down in dramatic fashion but in truth it was a straightforward decision to make and not only left Everton on the back foot here but counting the cost of the subsequent matches the midfielder will now be suspended for.
Coote also had no hesitation with his next big decision when Christian Romero went down under Keane’s challenge in the area and Kane further infuriated the home fans by sending international team-mate Jordan Pickford the wrong way from the penalty spot.
The door for a Blues reprieve was then opened on 88 minutes when visiting substitute Lucas Moura was also given his marching orders for leaving his foot in on Keane.
But rather that go into his shell, the centre-back took out his pain on the visitors with an outrageous strike on 90 minutes to snatch a share of the spoils and send Goodison into raptures for what was a deserved if unexpected point in the circumstances.
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