Tottenham Hotspur secured safety on the final day of a traumatic 2025/26 Premier League (PL) season, following a 1-0 success over Everton that ensured a 49th consecutive year of top-flight football for the Lilywhites.
Amidst an atmosphere like no other, Spurs began with the type of determination that had been sorely missing for much of a wretched home campaign that had seen them win just twice on their own turf. Conor Gallagher came within inches of giving Spurs a dream start, firing into the side netting under pressure from Merlin Röhl as Everton scrambled to defend. Then came another huge miss just seven minutes later, as Pedro Porro’s free kick was flicked by Rodrigo Bentancur into the path of João Palhinha, who fired wildly over.
A much-needed water break in the 30-degree conditions slightly halted Spurs’ early momentum, and only some slightly panicked backtracking prevented Iliman Ndiaye from getting anything more telling than a corner, as the Senegalese forward shimmied past Destiny Udogie and Micky van de Ven, who deflected the ball out of play. But it was from a corner kick at the other end that Spurs would net one of their most celebrated goals of all time, when Mathys Tel swung in and a Palhinha header against the far post came back to him, allowing him to fire in at the second attempt, with the shot clearly over the line.
