If Tottenham Hotspur were to build upon their fine run of four wins in their last five games, Ange Postecoglou’s men would need to find a way to do so without Son Heung-min, with the South Korean forward plying his trade for his country in the Asian Cup.
TOT: Vicario, Udogie, Davies, Royal, Porro, Skipp, Bentancur, Johnson, Lo Celso, Kulusevski, Richarlison
BUR: Muric, Taylor, Delcroix, O’Shea, Vitinho, Cullen, Ramsey, Zaroury, Odobert, Amdouni, Foster
Ben Johnson decided to cut in field and drifted past two Burnley defenders, and the winger wasn’t shy with his attempt as he curled one towards the corner – with his effort having to be matched by Muric.
The only real moment of excitement came in the half about twenty-five minutes in, when Amdouni played a one-two with Zaroury on the edge of the box. Zaroury intelligently lobbed the ball over to Amdouni who had darted into the area, but the Clarets man couldn’t take it under control quickly enough, ultimately scuffing it over the bar.
At the beginning of the second half, Tottenham sought to step up their intensity, working a corner out to Lo Celso who forced a diving effort from the Burnley stopper.
With time running out, Porro hit a wonder strike to put the home side ahead. After a mess in the box, Burnley tried to break on Spurs quickly but it was intercepted by the goalscorer. As Porro pushed the ball forward, no one came out to meet the fullback, granting him space to have a pop – and he was rewarded for doing so as his strike nestled in the top corner.
Embed from Getty ImagesBurnley made another mistake ten minutes later, as Muric played it out directly to a white shirt. The ball found substitute Sessegnon, who was denied celebration as the ‘keeper made amends for his blunder.
Burnley nearly had their equaliser with the last kick of the game when Muric was up for the corner and headed it onto Amdouni. The forward’s connection wasn’t clean though, as his flick whistled past the post – ending Burnley’s FA Cup campaign and allowing Spurs to advance to the Fourth Round.
