Les Ferdinand grabbed his 14th goal of the season but also gave Spurs a scare when he suffered a clash of heads and failed to emerge for the second half.

Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle will be hoping his in-form striker will recover in time for Wednesday's Worthington Cup semi-final, second leg, when they need to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Chelsea at White Hart Lane.

Although Ferdinand struck after just three minutes against Everton, Tottenham's lead was short-lived, as David Weir equalised for the visitors four minutes later.

There was a case for rescuing Ferdinand today, ahead of important ties against Chelsea and then Bolton in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday.

But the former England striker is on fire at the moment, and wild horses couldn't drag him away from the Spurs team. Indeed, Ferdinand took just four minutes to make his mark, finishing off a sweet Spurs move.

Simon Davies won the ball on the right flank and fed Oyvind Leonhardsen - deputising for Gus Poyet - the Uruguayan rested ahead of those cup ties along with Ledley King.

The Norwegian midfielder whipped in a quick cross and Ferdinand buried a header inside the near post.

But Everton, who have not won here since 1985, hit back three minutes later and Paul Gascoigne - who received a warm welcome from the fans who remember his 33 goals in 112 games spanning a four-year period at Spurs - was the provider.

His cross from the right was headed out to Weir, and the big defender crashed home a volley from just inside the 18 yard box.

Ferdinand had a good chance to restore Tottenham's lead from the restart but screwed his shot wide. Then five minutes later Alan Stubbs almost sliced a Darren Anderton cross into his own net, but was relieved to see the ball go behind for a corner.

There was a concern for Spurs when Ferdinand seemed dazed by a clash of heads with Weir after 20 minutes, and, although he battled on, he did not look comfortable, and substitute Steffen Iversen warmed up.

Skipper Teddy Sheringham was back in the Tottenham team after serving a three-match suspension, while Duncan Ferguson recovered from a touch of flu and returned to the Everton forward line in place of Jesper Blomqvist - partnering Kevin Campbell for the first time since October 13.

When these sides met at Goodison Park earlier in the season, Spurs had two men sent off and escaped with a 0-0 draw, but there were no signs of any such trouble in the early stages.

The first booking came after 28 minutes when Scot Gemmill fouled Sheringham, who then saw his 25 yard free kick clip the top of the wall and fly comfortably into the arms of Steve Simonsen.

Goalkeeper Neil Sullivan, who has just regained his place in the Spurs team, came to the rescue with a fine save after 36 minutes. Gary Naysmith's corner from the left was met with a powerful header from Ferguson, but the Scottish number one tipped it over the bar.

When the next corner came across, Stubbs was narrowly wide with a header as Spurs survived again.

Davies did well again inside the box for Spurs after 42 minutes, but his cross was well cut out by Stubbs for a corner. The home team kept up the pressure and Anderton's corner was headed goalward by Tim Sherwood, but nodded over the bar by Sheringham.

It was no surprise when Ferdinand did not emerge for the second half, being replaced instead by Norwegian international Iversen - preferred ahead of Sergei Rebrov who was also on the Tottenham bench.

Spurs kept up the pressure and forced another corner after 52 minutes and Anthony Gardner - the man in for King, saw his looping header smartly tipped over his bar by Simonsen.

Simonsen did even better after 73 minutes, this time leaping through the air to turn over Dean Richards' header from a right wing corner.

Both teams introduced attacking players in the closing stages - Joe-Max Moore for Everton and Matt Etherington and Rebrov for Spurs.

Iversen might have won it in stoppage time, but headed Etherington's cross on to the bar, and both sides had to be content with a point.

Teams:

Tottenham: Sullivan, Perry, Gardner, Richards, Davies, Anderton, Sherwood, Leonhardsen (Etherington 76), Taricco (Rebrov 87), Ferdinand (Iversen 46), Sheringham.

Subs Not Used: Kelly, King.

Goals: Ferdinand 5.

Everton: Simonsen, Naysmith, Unsworth, Stubbs, Weir, Alexandersson (Clarke 60), Gemmill, Gascoigne (Moore 82), Hibbert, Campbell, Ferguson.

Subs Not Used: Gerrard, Tal, Chadwick.

Booked: Weir, Ferguson.

Goals: Weir 8.

Att: 36,056

Ref: C Wilkes (Gloucester).