Everton's Unbeaten Start Faces Spurs' Home Dominance

Everton head to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday with two very different stories running side by side.

On one hand, David Moyes has his team unbeaten after four Premier League games, with two wins and two draws putting them eighth on five points. On the other, their form away from Goodison Park still drags behind them like a bad memory.

They have not won any of their last six league games on the road. Against Tottenham specifically, it is worse: five straight Premier League away defeats. That is the weight Everton carry into north London.

Late drama fuels quiet confidence

If belief is going to crack that pattern, it will come from moments like last weekend.

Deep into stoppage time against Manchester United, with the game slipping away, Ainsley Maitland-Niles stepped up and smashed in a 25-yard equaliser. It was the sort of strike that changes the mood around a club. A point rescued, momentum preserved, and that unbeaten start still alive.

Everton’s league position may look modest, but there is a sense of a side that refuses to fold. Moyes has built his reputation on that kind of stubbornness. Saturday will test how far it travels.

Selection puzzles for Moyes

Moyes’s team sheet has a few clear lines and one or two question marks.

James Garner is not yet considered fully fit after the injury that opened the door for Maitland-Niles to make his impact off the bench. With Garner still short, Hayden Hackney is in line to start again in central midfield after his own influential cameo – he set up Tyrique George’s leveller against United.

Hackney is expected to partner Harrison Armstrong in the double pivot, a pairing that gives Everton legs and bite in the centre of the pitch.

Maitland-Niles, hero of last weekend, is set to continue at right-back, keeping auxiliary defender Merlin Rohl out of the side. His energy down that flank will be vital against a Spurs team that like to overload wide areas.

Further forward, Jack Grealish is ready to step back into the spotlight. Fresh from his second debut for the club, he is expected to reclaim Brennan Johnson’s place in the starting XI, adding guile and experience to the attacking band behind the striker.

Christian Norgaard remains Moyes’s only other fitness concern, ruled out until October. No fresh injuries, then, but still no chance to call on one of his most reliable midfielders.

How Everton could line up

Moyes is likely to stick with his familiar 4-2-3-1, leaning on structure and work-rate to keep Spurs at arm’s length while trusting his creative players to land the decisive blows.

Everton possible XI (4-2-3-1):

Pickford; Maitland-Niles, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Armstrong, Hackney; George, Dewsbury-Hall, Grealish; Barry.

Jordan Pickford anchors a back four that has a solid look to it, with James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite at centre-back and Vitaliy Mykolenko on the left. Ahead of them, Armstrong and Hackney provide the shield and the springboard.

Tyrique George and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are set to support Grealish in the three behind frontman Barry, a mix of runners, technicians and set-piece threat that gives Everton enough variety to trouble Spurs if they can get a foothold.

Kick-off and TV details

The Premier League clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium kicks off at 17:30 on Saturday, 12 September 2026.

In the UK, the game will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event.

Everton arrive with an unbeaten record and a brutal away streak hanging over them. One of those runs has to give sooner or later. Which one breaks first?