Everton secured their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals after beating Tottenham 5-4 (after extra time) at Goodison Park.

The first half was 45 minutes of pure entertainment with Tottenham coming out all guns blazing with their four attackers combining with slick passes that caught Everton off guard. The early pressure paid off for Mourinho who saw his side take the lead after Davinson Sanchez lost his marker Gylfi Sigurdsson to nod past Robin Olsen. A poor goal to concede from an Everton standpoint.

The Blues passive start was a concern for the first 15 minutes as possession was repeatedly given over too easily forcing the likes of Calvert-Lewin to come deep to receive the ball, an area that Everton do not what to see their lethal poacher. The lethargic passing which has been a common theme for the Blues this season allowed Spurs to retreat and set up defensively time and time again.

After the 15 minute mark however, Everton began to assert themselves in the game, going more direct, forcing more saves out of Hugo Lloris and beginning to put a press on the opposition defence. It was from this press that the Toffees found their equaliser when Sigurdsson cleverly flicked it onto Calvert-Lewin who smashed the ball into Lloris and the French keeper couldn’t keep the powerful shot out of the net.

In a blink of an eye, the momentum shifted in favour of Everton after DCL superbly backheeled the ball into the path of Richarlison who sidestepped his defender before slotting into the bottom left corner.

Proceedings went from good to great for Carlo’s men after it was that man again, DCL who was clipped in the area by Pierre Hojbjerg resulting in a spot kick. From that resulting penalty, Sigurdsson stepped up and cooly sent Lloris the other way to score against his former employers.

Disappointingly, the Blues couldn’t manage to hold onto their two goal lead as Yerry Mina stood flat-footed and static, allowing Erik Lamela to go past him with ease and finish at the end of the half.

The second half failed to match the intense start of the first as the game fell into a lull with both teams happy to calm the match down and slow the tempo. DCL came off early as a precaution which was concerning for blues considering how instrumental he has been in giving Everton the lead.

It was the same story in terms of abysmal defending from a corner, with Alderweireld forcing a good save from Olsen only for Sanchez to poke in the rebound, who again, was being marked by Sigurdsson.

Despite this setback, Everton responded well, Sigurdsson involved yet again finding Richarlison with a deft through ball. The Brazilian winger proceeded to slide off Sanchez with a great darting run and then producing a fabulous finish in off the post for his brace.

Everton just couldn’t hold onto the lead however, when the ball bounced out to Son who delivered excellently onto the head of Harry Kane. It was poor marking from Mina and Doucoure who were caught ball watching, allowing the England number nine to have a relatively easy finish.

After 90 minutes the score sat at 4-4, meaning extra time loomed for the Blues. It was in extra time that the Icelandic number ten continued to show his creative flair by lobbing a delightful ball over the Tottenham defence onto Bernard who scored the decisive goal with a lashed half-volley into the back of the net.

Fans will be over the moon with that result and ps they should be, after every single Everton player made a contribution and worked tirelessly for 120 minutes. The player who encapsulates the most is that of Tom Davies who has seemed to turn his critics into plaudits over the past few games. The 22 year old put in a masterful performance in the centre of the park, providing Everton with much needed energy all the way into extra time. He was also beating players smartly, winning his duels and constantly making the correct decision, an area of his game that has improved dramatically in recent weeks.

It was the man next to him as well who deserves all the praise he will receive as Abdoulaye Doucoure was an immense force in the midfield today. The summer acquisition was gliding past players with ease, throwing himself at incoming shots and generally dominating the entire middle third of the pitch.

A final player who deserves a mention after his performance today is Richarlison. After the disappointing Newcastle loss, Carlo Ancelotti scolded the player saying he needed to “focus more and sacrifice more” and that is exactly what he did today. The Brazilain looked back to his best in an offensive sense as he was consistently making penetrating runs and what came as a result of them was two sublime finishes. The hope now is that he can take some confidence from the game and find the goal on a more regular basis.

Although many positives come with a 5-4 victory, so do the negatives. One of these being the defensive shape and marking from corners. Coming into this match, Everton had not been too bad at defending set pieces due to the guidance of set play coach, Davide Ancelotti, but this game was a horror show when defending balls into the box. It is easy to cast the blame out, should the zonal system be scrapped, should Olsen command his area more, should Sigurdsson mark his man tighter but it was all of these factors combined. Hopefully this game acts as an anomaly for the Blues’ future in dealing with corners.

Player Ratings:

Robin Olsen – 8

Lucas Digne – 7

Michael Keane – 5

Yerry Mina – 5

Ben Godfrey – 6 

Abdoulaye Doucouré – 8.5 

Tom Davies – 9 (MOTM)

Gylfi Sigurðsson – 8 

Dominic Calvert-Lewin – 8.5

Richarlison – 8.5

Alexander Iwobi – 5

Subs:

Mason Holgate – 5

Seamus Coleman – 8