TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR cruised into the last eight of the FA Cup as Harry Kane’s hat-trick fired them to a 3-0 win at Fulham.
The England striker converted crosses from Christian Eriksen either side of half time before sealing his treble to fire Mauricio Pochettino’s men a step closer to Wembley.
Premier League Spurs had been stuttering of late, going down 1-0 to Gent in their Europa League first leg clash on Thursday.
Keep up to date with ALL the TOTTENHAM news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club pages plus fixtures, results and live match commentary
Fulham were struggling to bridge the gap between the Championship and top-flight, but they remained in the contest until the interval.
But just over five minutes after the restart they were put out of their misery as Kane doubled the advantage in similar fashion to his first.
related articles
Kieran Trippier fed the ball back to Eriksen down the right, and his cross was converted by the forward.
And it got even better for the 23-year-old forward as he claimed the matchball on 73 minutes after being played through by Dele Alli for his ninth goal in as many games this year.
Kane was replaced seconds after the strike, and with the hitman in this form, the White Hart Lane faithful will be hoping he can repeat his heroics against Gent this coming Thursday.
Stats, facts, goals and lols
- Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino makes five changes from the team beaten 1-0 by Ghent in the Europa League last Thursday.
- Harry Kane slides in his 17th goal of the season with a six yard volley.
- Despite massive superiority Tottenham still manage only three shots on target to Fulham’s two in the first half.
- Former classy Spurs and Fulham striker Dimitar Berbatov watches as a TV pundit.
- Fulham’s biggest celebrity fan - 6ft 7in TV quizmaster Richard Osman enjoys a jovial run-in with Spurs supporters as he walks in front of the away end at half time waving his scarf at them.
- Kane makes it 2-0 in an identikit combination with Eriksen to volley home his and Tottenham’s second goal six minutes into the second half.
- Kane inches away from a hat-trick when he clips a shot just over the crossbar. He gets it in the 73rd minute with a solo effort inside the box.
- It's Kane's second hat trick of the season and the fifth of his career.
- Spurs fans sing about going to Wembley - where they lost two of their three European Cup home group games this season.
- Fulham bring on Tottenham old boy Scott Parker and Spurs bring on Fulham old boy Mousa Dembele in the second half.
Big Picture
TOTTENHAM'S NEXT FIVE FIXTURES
Thu Feb 23 - Gent (H) - EL
Sun Feb 26 - Stoke (H) - PL
Sun Mar 5 - Everton (H) - PL
Sat Mar 11 - Crystal Palace (A) - PL
Sun Mar 19 - Southampton (H) - PL
Dream Team Ratings
Fulham: Bettinelli, Odoi, Kalas, Ream, Malone, McDonald (Parker 74), Johansen, Aluko (Cyriac 66), Cairney, Ayite (Sessegnon 56), Kebano
Subs not used: Madl, Piazon, Martin, Button
Tottenham: Vorm, Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies, Winks (Dembele 79), Wanyama, Eriksen, Alli (Onomah 86), Son Heung-min, Kane (Sissoko 75)
Subs not used: Janssen, Wimmer, Lopez, Carter-Vickers
Goals: Kane 16, 51, 73
What they said
Tottenham striker Harry Kane: "We played very well and probably should have had a few more goals. I thought the manager was going to take me off soon but fortunately I was able to sneak the third one in.
"I am fine. It was only a clash of knees, I want to play every game.
"Winning games gives you confidence so we are buzzing to go at Wembley on Thursday."
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino: "I am very pleased, we started the game with great urgency. We tried to show that we wanted to go to the next round. I am very happy after two defeats.
"We had to recover the right feeling after two defeats. We had to believe in the way we work and play and that is what is important. We had lost that a little bit.
"It is always important for the striker to feel the net. We are a collective, there can be different names but we must compete."
Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic: "They showed great respect to us, they chose a very strong team and they didn't want any risks. They didn't give us so many chances in the game.
"They gave us no space to move the ball, this is different to what we normally find in our competition. When they scored we didn't have enough energy to change our situation.
"They dominated all of the game, they had it under control and put us in a difficulty we are not used to.
"Now we have to concentrate on the games in front of us. We must be optimists and fight for the top six."
Leave a comment