Tottenham brush aside Burnley after early scare

There was no shortage of entertainment on offer at White Hart Lane on Wednesday, as Tottenham Hotspur secured their place in the Fourth Round with a thrilling 4-2 win over Burnley.

After finding themselves two goals down within eight minutes, Mauricio Pochettino’s men had to dig deep.

But the Spurs boss will be pleased with the character and the reaction shown by his side, with victory setting up a home tie with Leicester City in the next round.

The first blow for Spurs in a frenetic opening came when they failed to deal with a high ball forward from Burnley right-back Kieran Trippier.

Marvin Sordell was gifted time and space to watch the ball drop in front of him, before looping a left-footer past Michel Vorm and into the top corner to register his first goal for the club.

Marvin Sordell puts Burnley ahead against Tottenham

And five minutes later, the Clarets doubled their lead when Ross Wallace’s 25-yard free-kick took a sizeable deflection off Roberto Soldado in the wall to wrong-foot Vorm and creep into the corner.

Spurs needed a quick reaction and that is exactly what they got as Paulinho completed a lively opening by scrambling home from close range, collecting a flick-on from Soldado after Andros Townsend crossed from the right.

The hosts upped the ante in search of an equaliser, with the primary danger coming from their right-hand side, where Townsend was proving a real problem for Ben Mee.

Danny Rose slides home Tottenham's third goal

But with one cross superbly cleared by Michael Duff from under Soldado’s nose and after firing well over with a shot, the end product was often found missing.

Spurs then spurned a golden chance to level it up, when Paulinho robbed Scott Arfield of the ball and sent Townsend was scampering away through the centre.

His pass inside picked out Soldado for what was surely a gift, but the Spaniard somehow crashed a shot against the bar from five yards.

Soldado was let off the hook moments later though, as his attempted shot from a Ben Davies cross rolled into the path of Etienne Capoue, who made no mistake by drilling an unstoppable low shot past Tom Heaton.

Like its predecessor, the second half began with an early goal, as Spurs edged ahead for the first time when Paulinho’s corner from the left was turned home by Vlad Chiriches.

Paulinho outjumps the Burnley defence

And the early-goals trend continued as Spurs extended their lead further, as Benjamin Stambouli spread a pass wide to Soldado and his low cross was met at the far post and smashed home by the onrushing Danny Rose.

With a two-goal lead intact, Spurs never looked like losing their grip on the game from there and could even have added to their tally.

Soldado saw another attempt saved by Heaton in the later stages, as Spurs looked to add gloss to the result.

But they had done enough and with another of the Premier League’s newcomers now due in north London in ten days, Cup fever is starting to grip White Hart Lane again.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): 13 Michel Vorm; 6 Vlad Chiriches, 4 Younes Kaboul (c), 5 Jan Vertonghen, 33 Ben Davies; 25 Benjamin Stambouli, 29 Etienne Capoue; 17 Andros Townsend, 8 Paulinho, 3 Danny Rose; 9 Roberto Soldado.

Substitutes: 22 Nacer Chadli for Rose (58), 47 Josh Onomah for Townsend 75, 15 Eric Dier for Chiriches 79.

Substitutes not used: 1 Hugo Lloris, 16 Kyle Naughton, 18 Harry Kane, 19 Mousa Dembele.

Goals: Paulinho 9, Etienne Capoue 45, Vlad Chiriches 48, Danny Rose 52

Burnley (4-4-2): 1 Tom Heaton; 2 Kieran Trippier, 4 Michael Duff (c), 25 Michael Keane, 6 Ben Mee; 11 Michael Kightly, 37 Scott Arfield, 14 David Jones, 7 Ross Wallace; 9 Sam Vokes, 17 Marvin Sordell.

Substitutes: 18 Steven Reid for Trippier 67, 8 Dean Marney for Jones 75, 21 George Boyd for Wallace 88.

Substitutes not used: 10 Danny Ings, 22 Matt Gilks, 30 Ashley Barnes, 3 Danny Lafferty.

Goals: Marvin Sordell 2, Ross Wallace 7,

Referee: Craig Pawson