You have got to go back to the days of Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker for Tottenham Hotspur’s last FA Cup success, but Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen gave notice they are ready to try to repeat the achievement of
the 1991 team.
Kane, starting his first FA Cup game of the season, scored a brilliant hat-trick against Fulham to make it 20 goals in 22 London derbies and secure Tottenham’s place in the quarter-finals.
The England international’s first two goals owed much to the superb Eriksen and, although it was against Championship opposition, Tottenham’s performance at Craven Cottage served as a statement of intent. They are very much up for the Cup.
HAT TRICK HERO: HARRY KANE CELEBRATEES HIS THIRD GOAL
Much of the pre-match debate centred on what type of team manager Mauricio Pochettino would name, given Tottenham’s packed fixture list and last Thursday night’s Europa League defeat in Gent. The Argentine demonstrated how seriously he is taking this competition by sticking with Kane, Dele Alli and Victor Wanyama, and bringing back Eriksen.
Eriksen and Alli were influential from the start for the visitors and combined to almost give Tottenham a fourth-minute lead. Alli headed the ball through and the Dane’s shot was tipped wide by Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli. Bettinelli was then grateful to see a well-struck drive from Alli bounce just wide of his right-hand post, as Spurs made it clear they meant business.
Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic resisted the temptation to keep 16-year-old Ryan Sessegnon in his starting line-up. Tottenham are one of a number of clubs interested in the left back and will have been pleased he was not playing as Scott Malone suffered a torrid afternoon.
Malone switched off following a stray pass from Tim Ream in the lead up to Tottenham’s deserved opening goal in the 16th minute. Kieran Trippier took a quick throw in over the head of Malone to release Eriksen, who crossed for Kane to stab the ball into the net.
With Hugo Lloris being rested, Kane wore the captain’s armband and clearly relished the responsibility, although deputy goalkeeper Michel Vorm almost gifted Fulham an equaliser. Vorm scuffed a kick straight to Fulham captain Tom Cairney, but recovered to save the midfielder’s first-time shot.
With their team largely dominant in the first half, Tottenham’s travelling fans worked their way through an array of different songs that included ‘Arsene Wenger, we want you to stay’. A strange choice, given Arsenal have never finished below Spurs in the table with the Frenchman in charge.