Tottenham remain without a Premier League win this season after Harry Kane failed to end his goal drought in a 0-0 draw against Everton on Saturday.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side find themselves down in 15th place with three draws and a defeat following the White Hart Lane stalemate.
It is a worrying opening for the north Londoners, whose major concerns revolve around the poor form of England striker Kane and the club’s failure to provide him with quality support.
. Harry Kane has scored only two goals in last 12 appearances
In the 11 appearances before his England debut last season Kane scored 14 goals, yet in the 12 appearances since netting on his full international debut in March, he has netted just twice and is still waiting to get off the mark this term.
Much of the pre-match focus was on Everton defender John Stones, who this week saw his transfer request rejected as the Toffees fight to keep the England international from joining Chelsea.
Stones had plenty of work to do in the first half as Tottenham dominated from the moment Nabil Bentaleb fired just wide from Nacer Chadli’s cutback.
However, a careless mistake from Tottenham right-back Kyle Walker almost gifted Everton the lead when he trod on the ball, setting Tom Cleverley in on goal, only for the midfielder’s powerful shot to be pushed away by Hugo Lloris.
Kane’s malaise continued when he squandered a golden opportunity to open the scoring in the 23rd minute.
Ryan Mason’s slide-rule pass sent Kane clear on goal, but Everton keeper Tim Howard blocked his weak effort.
Moments later, Chadli’s perfectly-weight pass picked out Mason, but the midfielder’s angled low shot was saved by Howard’s legs.
Howard’s heroics continued as the American veteran made a fine finger-tip save to push Toby Alderwierweld’s header over the bar midway through the first half.
Cleverly was stretchered off after a poor tackle from Eric Dier
Everton suffered a blow just before half-time when Cleverley was stretchered off with what looked like a serious ankle injury.
Tottenham substitute Dele Alli almost made an instant impression in the second half when he latched onto a poor touch from Gareth Barry to prod Mason through on goal but his low shot was saved by Howard.
Kane misfired again, Chadli blazed over from the rebound, then Alli had a penalty appeal turned down as Pochettino’s side tried in vain to break the deadlock.
Jan Vertonghen was next to try his luck with a dipping strike that Howard pushed over before Kane had a goal disallowed for offside.
Everton’s Kevin Mirallas almost snatched the points in the last minute with a header that raced straight at Lloris.
By AFP