Tottenham beat fellow Premier League side Burnley to move into the fourth round of the FA Cup thanks to Pedro Porro’s stunning strike.
Without club captain Son Heung-min, who has joined up with South Korea before the Asian Cup, the hosts failed to convert a number of chances before the breakthrough in the 78th minute.
Burnley goalkeeper Arijanet Muric threw the ball out, but Porro won a challenge and then arrowed a superb shot into the top corner from 25 yards out for what proved to be a wonderful first goal of the season since his permanent arrival from Sporting Lisbon.
The Clarets’ best chance fell to Zeki Amdouni in the first half when it was goalless, but he could only shoot over from a central position inside the penalty area.
In a thrilling finish, Muric twice went up for Burnley corners and from the second one, in the seventh minute of added time, won a near-post flick-on and his header fell to an unmarked Amdouni, who could not hit the target from six yards with a volley on the turn.
The defeat, the Clarets’ fifth in seven matches in all competitions, leaves Vincent Kompany’s side – 19th in the Premier League – to focus on trying to avoid relegation.
The draw for the fourth round of the FA Cup will take place at 19:50 GMT on Monday, 8 January, before the Wigan Athletic v Manchester United match.
Spurs go strong as they aim for good cup run
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou led Celtic to the treble of Scottish Premiership, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup last season and this was his first experience of the FA Cup.
He showed how important the competition was to Spurs – without a trophy since winning the League Cup in 2008 – as he named his strongest possible side.
There were only two changes from the team that won 3-1 against Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve to leave them fifth in the Premier League. Both were forced upon him with forward Son at the Asian Cup and midfielder Pape Matar Sarr joining up with Senegal before the Africa Cup of Nations.
Spurs will be without the pair, and Mali midfielder Yves Bissouma, for up to six matches – with the trio possibly away with their countries until mid-February.
Son, top scorer with 12 goals this season, was understandably missed as the hosts spurned a number of good opportunities.
Richarlison twice failed to score with left-footed efforts, while the dangerous Brennan Johnson had two shots saved by back-up keeper Muric. Giovani lo Celso also missed two opportunities and stand-in captain Rodrigo Bentancur fired another attempt over.
Kompany, twice an FA Cup winner as a player with Manchester City, made five changes to Burnley’s team and his side nearly scored inside the opening seven minutes, only to see Wilson Odobert’s powerful strike parried by Guglielmo Vicario. Anass Zaroury also failed to hit the target when well placed.
Spurs eventually made their pressure count with Porro’s strike – after Muric hurried a throw – and survived the late scare to go through.
