Everton stuns Tottenham 1-0, Leicester City drubs W Bromwich Albion 3-0
London, Sep 13 (efe-epa).- Everton, in the debut match for Colombia’s James Rodriguez with the squad, surprised a disappointing Tottenham Hotspur on the road, dealing Jose Mourinho’s boys a 1-0 home loss to start the season.
Meanwhile, Leicester City forgot its bad results from late last season and launched its campaign this year with a 3-0 road win over the recently elevated West Bromwich Albion.
With just a few training sessions under his belt after arriving at Everton last week, Carlo Ancelotti put Rodriguez into the mix and the decision was a good one, given the results.
The Colombian, with his outstanding left-footed talent perfectly intact, was among the best performers on the pitch on Sunday and spent practically all his time in the attack zone for Everton.
Helping him out at midfield were Andre Gomes, Allan and Abodulaye Doucoure, whose contributions helped the Toffees dominate the game and put the kibosh on Mourinho’s hopes to start out the season in the win column.
Everton threatened twice in the first half, initially when Richarlison dribbled past Hugo Lloris but when he tried to finish things off into an empty net he flubbed it and fired the ball above the crossbeam, and later when a shot by James from the front of the area glanced off the post.
Tottenham barely created any danger for the visitors throughout the match and the team paid for their lackluster performance in the second half.
After the break, Everton showed markedly more energy and went ahead when Lucas Digne sent a free kick to just the right spot and Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed the ball in for the match’s only score.
Tottenham, which moved into the Europa League dramatically last season, has got to improve a good bit if it wants to be among the six top teams this time around.
In other action, Brendan Rodgers’ boys, who lost their place in the Champions League at the last minute last season, got off on the right foot thanks to a tally by Timothy Castagne, who played his first six minutes on Sunday wearing a “Foxes” jersey, and two goals by Jamie Vardy from the penalty spot.
During the first half, Harvey Barnes missed both of the best chances for the Foxes, but in the second half things started to look up with Leicester taking full control of the action.
Castagne headed in the first score for the squad and Vardy later got two penalty kicks and hit on them both for the 3-0 result.
With the win, Leicester joins Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United as the teams who pocketed three points on their first Premier League outings this campaign.
