Image Credit: Sky Sports
By Lee Clow
14 January 2020 | FA Cup
Tottenham secured their place into the fourth round of the FA Cup after overcoming Middlesbrough 2-1 in the third-round replay at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Having struggled at the Riverside in the 1-1 replay nine days ago, Jose Mourinho’s side went into the game looking for a positive response and they could not have started better as Giovani Lo Celso put Spurs in front after two minutes. Attempting to play out of the back, Middlesbrough goalkeeper, Tomas Mejias poorly gave the ball away allowing Lo Celso to pick up the loose ball and slide the ball into the corner of the net.
Despite conceding the early goal, Boro responded well and almost drew themselves level when Davinson Sanchez cheaply gave the ball away. Lukas Nmecha latched onto the loose ball before twisting through the Spurs defence and firing at Paulo Gazzaniga, who got down really well to preserve his clean sheet.
This proved to be a wakeup call for Spurs who then switched on their quality and made it 2-0. Erik Lamela, getting his first start since returning from injury, cleverly nicked back the ball on the edge of the area before gliding through the Middlesbrough defence and sliding the ball into the net with the outside of his left foot.
From this moment, Tottenham took full control of the game and began creating more and more chances to try and sink the visitors. Ryan Sessegnon, Japhet Tanganga, Christian Eriksen and Lucas Moura all came close for Spurs but really should have buried their chances to put the game to bed.
In the second half, Spurs regained control of the game with the same objective to seal the victory.
Lewis Wing had a good chance to get a goal back for the visitors through a free kick, but Spurs goalkeeper Gazzaniga got down well again to parry his effort. Middlesbrough seemed inspired from this moment as they began mounting attacks on Tottenham.
As the game reached its closing stages, both teams started to let their foot off the gas with the game very much done. Boro substitute, George Saville, came very close to scoring after receiving the ball but his strike just rose high of the bar.
Middlesbrough did find their goal however as they stunned the home ground. A ball from the back was excellently won by Rudy Gestede and this allowed Saville to run through and creep a shot into the back of the net past the despairing dive of Gazzaniga. The visitors goal continues Tottenham poor record of clean sheets with the North London club only recording one clean sheet in nine games.
The final few minutes inside the Tottenham Hotspur stadium was tense with Boro pushing forward for an equaliser but Spurs stayed strong and held out for the victory.
Tottenham manager, Jose Mourinho briefly spoke after the game giving his thoughts on his sides victory: "3-0 was so close so many times. I told my players at half time if we don't score 3-0 then if 2-1 we would be in trouble and it happened."
"We knew the opponents were hard. They brought on Gestede and went direct and made problems and when it was 2-1 we knew it was going to be difficult."
"We tried our best, the boys are trying their best. They dealt well with many set piece situations. We did lots of things well, we conceded the goal, a bit frustrating, but more frustrating was that we did not score three, four or five."
"In this moment it is not the priority [FA Cup]. The priority is to play a difficult match against Watford in the Premier League. When Southampton comes it will be the priority."
What’s next?
Having progressed into the fourth round of the FA Cup, Tottenham have a trip to Southampton which will be played on January 25.
Tottenham return to Premier League action next Saturday when they travel to Watford. Meanwhile, Middlesbrough travel to Fulham in the Championship on Friday.
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