Everton scored three first-half goals to win their second straight English Premier League match on Tuesday, winning 3-1 at Tottenham to hand Spurs their second consecutive loss.
Goals by Leon Osman and Alan Stubbs in the final eight minutes of the first half led Everton to victort, who also won their season-opener at home against Wigan 2-1 on Saturday.
Joleon Lescott gave Everton the lead in the second minute, but Tottenham, who lost their opening match 1-0 at Sunderland on Saturday and were without first-choice central defensive partnership of Ledley King and Michael Dawson because of injury, equalised in the 26th minute from a goal by Antony Gardner.
Spurs, who were unbeaten in the re-season and spent less on new players than only Manchester United and Liverpool, will next face newly promoted Derby on Saturday.
”It was not enough and we have to do better,” Tottenham manager Martin Jol said. ”But of course there are still a lot of pages, a lot chapters to write in the story.”
Jol started record signing Darren Bent for the first time, playing the England striker alongside both Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane.
Bent was lively early on, but it was Everton who took the lead when Lescott headed in from a free kick.
Jol lost another central defender when Younes Kaboul went off with a hamstring problem, to be replaced by Ricardo Rocha and, although Gardner equalised with a header, Osman restored Everton’s lead with a 37th-minute volley after Victor Anichebe had a header blocked.
Stubbs made it 3-1 just before half-time with a deflected free kick from 30m out.
Berbatov hit the post at the start of the second half and Keane went close with a free kick, leaving Jol to bring on striker Jermain Defoe for Bent and winger Wayne Routledge for out-of-form defender Paul Stalteri for the last half hour.
After going winless in 21 years at White Hart Lane, Everton have won at Tottenham two seasons in a row.
”We did it last year and these players are more than capable of doing it,” Everton manager David Moyes said.
Everton moved atop the early season standings but are unlikely to stay there long because there are six more Premier League matches on Wednesday, including Chelsea at Reading and Manchester United at Portsmouth. — Sapa-AP