Tottenham v Everton: Premier League final day – live

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The teams

Tottenham Hotspur: Kinsky, Spence, Danso, Van de Ven, Udogie, Palhinha, Gallagher, Bentancur, Porro, Richarlison, Tel.
Subs: Vicario, Dragusin, Bissouma, Maddison, Gray, Bergvall, Solanke, Sarr, Kolo Muani.

Everton: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Keane, Mykolenko, Iroegbunam, Garner, Röhl, Dewsbury-Hall, Ndiaye, Barry.
Subs: Travers, McNeil, Beto, George, Dibling, Coleman, Alcaraz, Aznou, Armstrong.

Referee: Michael Oliver
VAR: Paul Tierney

Team buses trundling up to stadiums are these days afforded the same amount of coverage, and imbued with similar levels of importance, as red-carpet arrivals at Cannes. So we can exclusively reveal that the Tottenham Hostpur carriage has made it through a thousands-strong throng of wellwishers to dispatch the team at the front door, ready for work. Some atmosphere outside the ground. Expect similar inside it.

Bus drives past building on road. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Preamble

Oh Tottenham. How has it come to this? Champions League finalists in 2019, and Europa League winners just 12 months ago, one of the grandest clubs in England are now possibly 90 minutes plus fingernail-and-artery-bothering add-ons away from relegation to the second tier for the first time in nearly half a century.

The Spurs team arrive at the stadium on this day of days. Photograph: Will Cooper/Shutterstock

Ah but let’s leave those questions for later. And they’ll be a lot less pointed should Spurs escape the executioner this afternoon. The maths are simple: beat Everton and they stay up. A draw will almost certainly be enough, unless West Ham beat Leeds 12-0, which, given that scoreline would tie a top-flight record set 134 years ago^* and matched only once since, 117 years ago^†, is not going to happen. But a defeat … hoo boy.

The good news for Spurs: under Roberto de Zerbi, they’ve lost just one of their last five fixtures. And even if the worst was to happen, West Ham would still need to win to leapfrog them to safety. However, Spurs have only won two matches at home all season, against Burnley and Brentford, while Everton have the sixth-best away record in the division, winning seven of 18. Also in David Moyes, Everton have a manager who is on record saying he’d “love to keep West Ham in the league if I can”, having previously managed them to European glory.

So imagine the tension in N17 should Everton score first this afternoon. But Spurs beat the Toffees 3-0 on their own patch last October, so glee is as likely an outcome for the hosts as misery. At least that’s what they’ve got to tell themselves as they go into their most important game for a generation … and the bean counters will tell you that yes, that does include last year’s Europa League final. Kick-off is at 4pm BST. It’s on!

^{*: West Bromwich Albion 12-0 Darwen (April 1892)
†: Nottingham Forest 12–0 Leicester Fosse (April 1909)}