The second half of Tottenham Hotspur’s clash against Everton on the final day of the Premier League season was delayed due to a fault with the match official’s communication system.
Gary Neville was furious during Tottenham’s clash with Everton
Gary Neville was left furious when the second half of Tottenham Hotspur’s clash against Everton was delayed. On the final day of the Premier League season, the fixture didn’t restart at the scheduled time due to a technical error with the match officials’ communication system.
Five minutes after West Ham’s clash against Leeds United had resumed, Michael Oliver restarted play. The games in north and east London, respectively, were no longer synchronised, and the Manchester United legend was not afraid to mince his words.
Speaking on Sky Sports from the gantry at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Neville said: “Why have they kicked off there if they’re synchronising it? I don’t think a football match should be stopped for this.
“This is not good enough. I get you have technical problems. The fans are booing, and rightly so. I’m furious with this, not just because it’s the last game of the season, sporting integrity.
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“There’s an element of always kicking off together when you’re fighting for something. It’s absolutely ridiculous, it’s a warm day today, but it could be Winter and -2 with players walking around. It’s not good enough.”
João Palhinha had fired Tottenham into the lead shortly before half-time, all but sealing a place in the English top-flight next season. Then, midway through the second half, the Lilywhites were given a scare when West Ham took the lead over Leeds.
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The Hammers then doubled their advantage inside the final quarter of an hour, piling the pressure on Tottenham. In the dying embers of stoppage time at the London Stadium, Callum Wilson put West Ham 3-0 up.
Although Spurs only needed a point to stay up, regardless of the score in east London, Everton were just as determined to finish in the top half of the Premier League. David Moyes, who led the Hammers to Europa Conference League glory back in 2023, was also keen to do his former employers a favour.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the trip to north London, the Toffees boss said: “I would love to keep West Ham in the league if I can. But it’s more important that I get Everton a top-half finish and we try to get a few more million pounds because of our league place, which is so important.
“Sometimes when you’re in this position, you don’t look at your league position until you’re five or six years on and you look back.”
Meanwhile, Roberto De Zerbi the relegation showdown. The Spurs boss said: “In football, there are different games. There are these type of games, like a final. For us, for West Ham, it will be two finals, and we have to adapt and we have to change the habits.
“I think it’s a great thing to have the chance to play as a player. If I think as a player, for me, these types of games are good to play, to prepare, to suffer the pressure. The pressure is good.
“It depends if you are able to think, to stay strong with you, first of all, to stay positive. I think you can become, as I said after the Chelsea game, you can become better as a coach, as a player, as a man, because you can become better going through the tough moments.
“If everything is good in life, you can improve, but not in this way.”
