Kane injury mars Spurs’ stroll in FA Cup
LONDON (Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur booked an FA Cup semifinal place with a 6-0 thrashing of third-tier London rival Millwall on Sunday, but an injury to Harry Kane marred the party as Spurs marked their last tie at their current White Hart Lane Stadium.
England international Kane, the Premier League’s joint top scorer with 19 goals, had to hobble off after falling awkwardly and suffering an ankle injury in a sixth-minute challenge with defender Jake Cooper during their sixth round tie.
Yet his absence was not missed on the day as Spurs’ South Korea striker Son Heung-min netted a brilliant hat-trick and Kane’s replacement Christian Eriksen also scored a beauty before Dele Alli and substitute Vincent Janssen got in on the act.
It all made for an emotional occasion at Spurs’ storied 118-year-old ground which they will leave for a season at the end of the campaign before returning to a new stadium at the site.
Third-tier side Millwall had beaten three top-flight teams en route to the quarterfinals, but Premier League title chasers Spurs dominated from the outset at the grand old ground where they have not lost all season.
Eriksen made the key breakthrough with a brilliant snap shot on the turn on the half-hour mark before Son crashed home a thunderous left-foot strike 10 minutes later.
The Korean then struck a sweet first-time, right-foot volley from Kieran Trippier’s through ball in the 54th before Alli netted his 16th of the season in all competitions, a tapin after a well-crafted move, in the 72nd minute.
The icing on the cake was a first goal from open play in the 79th minute for Spurs’ under-achieving striker Janssen, while Son’s third came in stoppage time, a volley that slipped through the clutches of hapless Millwall ’keeper Tom King.
Can seals comeback to maintain Liverpool’s top-four push
Meanwhile, Liverpool kept its push for a top-four finish in the Premier League on course as Emre Can thundered home a second-half winner to complete a hard-earned 2-1 comeback win over Burnley at a relieved Anfield on Sunday.
Juergen Klopp’s side was again out of sorts, but he was pleased with the way his team won “ugly” to earn its first back-to-back league wins this year and keep up the pressure on the league’s leading trio.
While nowhere near its scintillating best, typifying the Merseysiders’ uneven form of 2017, Liverpool displayed real character to strike back after going behind to an Ashley Barnes goal after seven minutes.
With the league’s worst traveler Burnley dreaming of its first away win of the season, the out-of-sorts Reds were grateful to equalize just before halftime through their first shot on target from Georginio Wijnaldum.
Liverpool looked short of ideas before German international Can produced what Klopp called a “wonderful” goal from seemingly nowhere just after the hour mark, bending his low 25-meter strike into the bottom corner past a despairing Tom Heaton.
The victory gives Liverpool 55 points, a point behind second-place Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City in third and 11 adrift of leader Chelsea.
The top three all have a game in hand over the Reds, who now lead fifth-place Arsenal by five points albeit having played two games more than Arsene Wenger’s side.
The semifinal will be at Wembley Stadium, where Spurs plan to play home games next term before moving into a new 800 million pounds ($972 million), 61,000-seat stadium next door to the current ground in 2018-19.
They will be joined in the highest-quality of last four draws by Arsenal and Manchester City, who won their quarterfinals on Saturday, and Chelsea or Manchester United, who meet in the remaining sixth round tie at Stamford Bridge on Monday.