Marco Silva says Andre Gomes will have “all the support he needs” from Everton after the former Barcelona player sustained a serious injury playing against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Midfielder Gomes was hurt following a challenge from Son Heung-min, the Everton man’s momentum taking him into a forceful collision with defender Serge Aurier.

The game was halted for six minutes while Gomes was carried off on a stretcher, with players from both teams visibly distressed by the incident.

Silva is backing his fellow Portuguese to return a "stronger football player and stronger man” – and admitted Everton’s first thought this weekend is with the stricken Gomes.

“It was a really tough moment for us, forgetting the game and result,” said Silva, whose side drew 1-1 after Cenk Tosun equalised deep into time added on.

“Andre will have all the support he needs from us.

“It is a serious injury and I am 100 per cent sure Andre will become stronger as a footballer player and stronger as a man, he is a fantastic lad and professional and all the support he needs, he will have from us.

“Our players are sad now, it is a tough moment in our dressing room, but the spirit we showed after that moment was good.

“It was the toughest moment for us this season."

Everton were trailing 1-0 to Dele Alli’s 63rd-minute strike when Gomes suffered his injury 15 minutes later.

Silva’s side were growing into the ascendancy when midfielder Alli intervened and only 120 seconds earlier Richarlison had drawn a sprawling save from Paulo Gazzaniga.

Brazilian Richarlison had been a menace throughout the opening 45 minutes, shooting low at Gazzaniga and lifting another effort over the bar.

Everton poured forward after falling behind and were denied a penalty when VAR decided an Alli handball in the box came about because the Spurs player was ‘under pressure from the attacker [Yerry Mina] as the ball struck his hand’.

Silva had already brought on Tosun for Theo Walcott when Gomes went off.

The manager replaced Gomes with Gylfi Sigurdsson and also sacrificed midfielder Tom Davies for another forward in Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

"I made two changes and called some players to talk and give the right message and information to them," said Silva of the immediate aftermath of Gomes's injury.

“We didn’t deserve the result in that moment, the game was balanced and the best chance had been for Richarlison.

“They were winning after a mistake we made.

“We wanted to react and change the system.

“I spoke with Gylfi and Dominic and also with Lucas [Digne] and Fabian [Delph] about what we should change.

“And the players showed very good spirit to react, to try to get the result we wanted.

“We showed great character, it was not easy to play after that tough moment.

“But we knew at least 10 minutes would be added and we had enough time to get a goal.”

Tosun sprinted into the box to power home a header from Digne’s volleyed cross to level the game and score his first goal this term.

The Turk hasn’t started this season and was last on target when Everton were at Spurs on the final day of last season.

He came on to good effect against Watford in midweek, creating the second goal of his side's 2-0 win for Richarlison.

And Tosun completed a personally fine week by scoring his 10th Everton goal.

“He came in on Tuesday and had an assist and this afternoon he scored,” continued Silva.

“We spoke before the match about how he’s an important player for us.

“I know he wants to play more and possibly he deserves to play more.

“It is up to me to make the best decision for each match.

“When the game is tight, Cenk is the striker more able to play there for us, he smells the goal.

“That moment was good for him and good open play from our team.

“Cenk plays for the shirt and to give his best for the team.”