Credit: Imago

Daniel Lewis

Sun 24 May 2026 18:48, UK

Tottenham Hotspur‘s clash with Everton on Sunday finished later than expected due to a delayed start to the second half.

Spurs defeated the Toffees 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium through a Joao Palhinha goal to confirm their Premier League safety.

That ensured Tottenham did not have a particularly tense finale, with West Ham – 3-0 winners over Leeds United – needing Everton to score twice to usurp Spurs in the table.

Every match kicked off at the same time on the final day out of fairness, but those plans went out the window in the second period.

And former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett has exclusively told Tottenham News that scenes in North London were “unacceptable”.

PGMOL left red faced once again by equipment failure

The idea of each game kicking off at the same time is that there is no unfair advantage.

However, due to referee Michael Oliver’s communication device not working, the second half kicked off more than five minutes after West Ham had got back under way against Leeds.

It is not the first time this has happened, with ex-Premier League referee Hackett questioning if it is down to a lack of investment in new equipment from PGMOL.

“This is yet another delay to the restart of a Premier League game due to a communication kit fail,” he said.

“With the last games of the season, kick offs and restarts are co-ordinated at Premier League HQ.

“The West Ham game and the Spurs game really should have kicked off at the same time at the start of the second half.

“The PGMOL need to sort out the communication kits – it is unacceptable. I suggest that with a £40million turnover, the PGMOL need to invest in a complete new set of equipment for every referee.”

Tottenham equal Premier League history with final-day survival

There is no denying this has been a dreadful season for Tottenham, and lessons quite simply have to be learned.

However, survival is all that mattered for Roberto De Zerbi and he achieved that aim, with West Ham’s relegation making things all the sweeter for Spurs fans.

The win over Everton was Tottenham’s first on home soil since beating Brentford 2-0 back in December – and just their third of the season overall.

That is the joint-fewest home wins of any team in Premier League history to survive relegation, alongside Hull City in 2008-09.