Match preview: Tottenham v Everton (7.45pm)

Aug 14 2007 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

IT may have happened in the hazy August sunshine but it was the moment that set the tone for the rest of Everton’s season.

They were already leading 1-0 at tonight’s destination of White Hart Lane but it somehow wouldn’t have seemed right if one scrappy Callum Davenport own goal had given them that first three away points on the road to Europe.

It needed something more emphatic to add to the Saturday night highlights package, a goal befitting the manner of one of the defining Everton performances of the campaign.

One flowing passing move and pinpoint Phil Neville cross later and there it was – Andrew Johnson, as quick and as deadly as a snake’s tongue, adding the last dose of poison to finish off the Londoners.

That 66th-minute strike really announced Johnson’s arrival as the club’s record signing and Everton as genuine top-five contenders – the fact that they were eventually denied that place by Spurs speaks volumes for what they had to achieve on that afternoon almost a year ago.

But for Johnson it was the first goal in an Everton shirt that he could truly call all his own – his first for the club on the opening day came from a strike that was way off target before Watford’s Lloyd Doyley generously diverted it.

And it all adds up to tonight’s encounter having the same significance. Capitalising on the shaky start Martin Jol’s men made at Sunderland on Saturday will surely have a similar impact in instilling the belief that they can remain in the top echelons.

And if Johnson can repeat his heroics at White Hart Lane – where he also score for Crystal Palace in their one-season stay in the top flight – it could send him on his way to bettering the final total of 12 goals he notched in his first season at Goodison.

“There was a period at the start of last season when he was untouchable for a while,” said Everton manager David Moyes.

“He was so quick and lively across the ground and when you look at how he started, him and Tim Cahill were both exceptional.

“I think his general play has improved a lot, and I’ve been saying to him I think he’s better than the 12 he scored last season.

“He hardly took any penalties and maybe if he’d taken four or five he would have maybe ended up with 17 or 18 goals so his target has to be to get better.

“We relied on his goals regularly last year and we'll need them again.

“He’s got more awareness and he has got much better with his hold-up play but what we really want him is on the edge of defenders’ shoulders, always threatening to get in behind because that’s what he does best.”

Johnson made as good a start to the season as possible without actually scoring on Saturday, as he scorched past Wigan’s Andreas Granqvist to set up Victor Anichebe to clinch the opening day victory.

Happy to let others take the plaudits and, more often than not, the penalties, Johnson will have left Goodison satisfied that he played his part in delivering the most important outcome.

His manager, however, might see things a bit differently this season. Because while the modesty and unselfishness is one of Johnson’s most likeable qualities, Moyes doesn’t see anything wrong with his forwards being a bit more demonstrative.

“Sometimes he needs to exuberate that confidence,” Moyes added. “If I’d scored 12 or 13 goals in the Premier League last year I would have been walking round with my chest out and saying ‘Bring it on’.

“But he’s quite a quiet boy and a very humble boy. He works very hard for the team and doesn’t really have any edge to him so that makes him a very likeable lad.

“He has got something there but he needs to say ‘Look come on, I’m going to kick on here and be one of the top scorers in the Premier League now’ and he needs to make that his goal and his target now.

“He needs a game or two to get right to the top end of his game but he played a big part in the result.”

The stunning start Johnson made to his Everton career proved what he is capable of when operating on full battery – an unfortunate combination of injuries soon flattened it as the campaign wore on.

The player himself also recently admitted that he never quite felt 100% last year and hoped his summer ankle operation would finally rid him of the discomfort.

So far, so good on that score if his burst into the box to create the second goal against Wigan is anything to go by, but Moyes is warning that he’s not up to his full frightening speed yet.

“He needs a game or two to get right to the top end of his game but he played a big part in the result,” said the Everton manager.

“He was in all summer because of his ankle operation to make sure he was fine. He stayed in and did all his work, got himself fit and then had a wee bit of a groin strain he picked up in training,” he added. “In the last three or four weeks he has missed a bit so hope we will see him sharper in the next coupe of weeks.

“I think he will settle, get better and get the goals that push all the top strikers and goalscorers.”

In terms of tonight, Moyes won’t be dwelling too much on last season’s events when he goes in search of a first two-game Premier League winning run since the game after that win at Spurs – the 3-0 Merseyside derby victory.

After all, the unnecessary jeers from the defeat Jermaine Jenas’s last-minute winner inflicted on Everton still seem to be ringing in his ears.

“We did play well there but the game against Tottenham at Goodison was the one where they played very well,” warned Moyes.

“We’ve had pretty good games with them recently and this one is fifth against sixth from last season. A lot has been made of their defeat on Saturday but I didn’t think Tottenham played badly. It’s always tough to go there but we do know what’s required.”