Leicester City have moved back to third in the English Premier League as Everton overcame a horrid leg injury to Andre Gomes to earn a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
Second-half goals from Caglar Soyuncu and Jamie Vardy gave Leicester a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace that lifted them above Chelsea in the table.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers praised his side, saying they were improving with each game.
“The players deserve a huge amount of credit,” he said.
“We are not getting carried away but we have made a good start.”
At Goodison Park, Cenk Tosun’s 98th-minute header cancelled out Dele Alli’s opener and earned Everton a share of the points on Sunday.
But that was second in the thoughts of everyone after Gomes left the field on a stretcher following a challenge from Son Heung-min in the second half.
The incident left Son in tears and he was shown a red card for what the Premier League said after the game was “endangering the safety of a player which happened as a consequence of his initial challenge”.
Everton manager Marco Silva said Gomes was taken to hospital, and it was a tough moment for the team.
“It’s more than a football game, this is the most important thing right now. We as a group have to keep togetherness,” he said.
Coming off a 9-0 thrashing of Southampton, Leicester were held in check until Soyuncu headed in James Maddison’s corner in the 57th minute.
Vardy then settled things with his league-leading 10th goal two minutes from time and Ben Chilwell was denied a third by the post in stoppage time.
Leicester are above Chelsea on goal difference with both on 23 points, two behind champions Manchester City and eight back of leaders Liverpool.
Palace remain in ninth place.
Tottenham were handed a gift lead at Everton when Alex Iwobi passed the ball straight to Alli, who sent a low shot past Jordan Pickford to open the scoring.
Alli looked to have handled the ball in the Spurs area moments later but a lengthy VAR review ruled otherwise.
Gomes then was injured after colliding with Tottenham’s Serge Aurier following Son’s challenge and left on a stretcher after a lengthy delay for treatment
“Sonny’s one of the nicest of people you could ever meet, and his reaction in there – he can’t even pick his head up because he’s crying so much,” Alli told Sky Sports.
“You don’t want that to happen to anyone, and we just have to send our best wishes to Andre Gomes.”
Distraught Spurs and Everton players react after a challenge that saw Toffees midfielder Andre Gomes stretchered off Goodison Park.#EVETOT #PL #OptusSport pic.twitter.com/iVwbVjgJuY
— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) November 3, 2019
The two delays led to 12 added minutes and Everton got the equaliser when Cenk Tosun headed home.
The result leaves both teams with just three wins from their first 11 games, with Tottenham in 11th on 13 points, two more than Everton just above the relegation places in 17th.
-AAP
