Tottenham 1-0 Burnley: Long-range stunner sees Clarets bow out of the FA Cup

To continue the theme of recent weeks, the Clarets put up another spirited display against top opposition but were found wanting in both boxes.

But they failed to take their chances when they came their way – none more so than Zeki Amdouni’s gilt-edged opportunity in the first-half – and were made to pay with just 12 minutes left on the clock.

While it was a sublime strike from Porro, it was also self-inflicted from Burnley’s perspective with Zeki Amdouni’s poor touch from Arijanet Muric’s throwout gifting Spurs the ball high up the pitch – something they did continuously throughout the night.

As it is, Burnley now must focus entirely on preserving their Premier League status, with a huge game coming on the horizon against relegation rivals Luton Town in their next outing.

Kompany made more changes than anticipated for the cup tie, having suggested ahead of the game the changes would be kept to a minimum.

Two changes were enforced, with Jordan Beyer missing out through injury and Sander Berge serving his one-match ban.

But James Trafford, Josh Brownhill and Johann Gudmundsson also dropped out of the side that lost late on against Aston Villa last week.

Arijanet Muric replaced Trafford in goal, while Hannes Delcroix, Josh Cullen, Aaron Ramsey and Anass Zaroury all came into the side.

Jack Cork returned from injury to be included among the subs, but Hjalmar Ekdal and Luca Koleosho remain injured.

Manuel Benson – linked with a January move away – wasn’t included in the squad at all.

As for Spurs, they made two changes from the side that beat Bournemouth 3-1 in their last outing, with Oliver Skipp and Dejan Kulusevski coming into the side.

The game started just as Burnley’s last outing ended, with a VAR check for their opponents following an early penalty shout for the hosts. But thankfully for the Clarets the game was allowed to continue.

Prior to the check, Burnley had immediately countered through Charlie Taylor down the left. Lyle Foster failed to make contact with his cross but the ball fell to Anass Zaroury, who blazed over from the edge of the box.

The visitors continued their bright start as Wilson Odobert brought an early save out of goalkeeper Vicario, who was forced to push the winger’s long-range effort away from goal.

Tottenham’s first chance came via Richarlison, who dragged a shot wide after beating Burnley’s offside trap, before Muric was forced into a save, tipping Brennan Johnson’s curling effort away from goal.

At this point the game had settled into a rhythm, with Tottenham enjoying the lion’s share of possession and looking threatening every time they came forward.

Burnley didn’t exactly help themselves though, with Dara O’Shea giving up possession in a really dangerous area of the pitch having been caught dawdling on the ball. Richalison was again set free for fortunately for the Clarets his end finish was weak.

In the 16th minute, Burnley fans joined in with the minute’s applause for 16-year-old Spurs fan Harry Pitman, who was recently murdered on New Year’s Eve. The message #EndKnifeCrime also flashed up on the big screens.

The Clarets found themselves on the wrong end of another VAR check when Josh Cullen was booked for a robust challenge in the middle of the park. VAR officials reviewed whether the yellow should be upgraded to a red, but thankfully the yellow stood and the game was allowed to continue.

Seconds after the incident, Burnley were once again fortunate to get away with a poor pass out from the back as Spurs jumped on Aaron Ramsey as he received the ball from Muric. Hannes Delcroix managed to bundle the ball behind for a corner, when it could have been a whole lot worse.

A brief respite from the Tottenham pressure brought about the biggest chance of the game so far, as Zeki Amdouni missed a gilt-edged opportunity to open the scoring.

The forward was played in by a sumptuous ball from Anass Zaroury, but Amdouni took a split second too long and fired over the bar from just eight yards out when he had to score.

Johnson almost made Burnley pay for the miss when he was picked out by a deep cross from the right, which just beat the head of Vitinho, but the former Nottingham Forest man skewed wide of Muric’s goal.

It was the final chance of what had been an encouraging half from Burnley, who were able to keep the hosts at arm’s length despite inviting pressure on themselves a little too often. Kompany’s men also created the clearest chance of the half, one that Amdouni really should have done better with.

Burnley made what looked to be an enforced change at the interval, with Jacob Bruun Larsen replacing Lyle Foster.

The first chance of the half came Tottenham’s way as Dejan Kulusevski, who had been kept quiet by Charlie Taylor in the first-half, tried his luck with a curling effort that just flew over.

Burnley hit back with a chance of their own, with Josh Cullen drilling a low effort wide after being teed up by Odobert.

It proved to be Odobert’s final action of the game as he was soon replaced by Josh Brownhill, which saw Aaron Ramsey move into a more advanced wide role.

With Burnley momentarily down to 10 with Taylor forced off with a shoulder problem, Spurs looked to capitalise but Muric came to their aid with an important stop to deny Johnson.

Taylor was swiftly replaced by Ameen Al-Dakhil, while both Nathan Redmond and Mike Tresor entered the fray.

With just over 20 minutes left on the clock, VAR was once again called into action to check a potential Spurs penalty. But the check was over as quickly as it began, and rightly so, as Josh Brownhill clearly won the ball inside the box ahead of Johnson.

Just as Burnley began to sense they could go on and win this, Tottenham broke the deadlock in the 78th minute.

In one sense it was self-inflicted, with Amdouni losing the ball in a poor area after he controlled Muric’s quick throw out from the back.

But in another sense, it was a stunning finish from Pedro Porro, who picked out the top corner with aplomb with a swerving, dipping effort from range.

Burnley once again played their way into trouble with four minutes remaining when Muric passed the ball straight to Bryan Gil inside his own box. The Spurs man teed up Ryan Sessegnon whose shot was well saved by Muric, who tipped the ball behind for a corner.

Burnley, who looked dead on their feet during the final stages, gave it everything they had during the final stages, even sending Muric up for two late corners.

The second came after Hannes Delcroix saw a last-gasp shot blocked from Mike Tresor’s pullback, before Muric amazingly won his header from the resulting corner – flicking the ball on to Amdouni who somehow missed from inside the six-yard box.

And that proved to be that, ending Burnley’s FA Cup adventure at the first hurdle.

TEAMS

Spurs: Vicario, Porro, Davies, Udogie, Emerson, Skipp (Hojbjerg), Lo Celso (Gil), Bentancur (Donley), Kulusevski, Johnson (Sessegnon), Richarlison (Scarlett)

Subs not used: Forster, van de Ven, Phillips, Dorrington

Burnley: Muric, Vitinho, O’Shea, Delcroix, Taylor (Al-Dakhil), Cullen, Ramsey (Redmond), Zaroury (Tresor), Odobert (Brownhill), Amdouni, Foster (Bruun Larsen)

Subs not used: Vigouroux, Roberts, Cork, Rodriguez

Referee: Sam Barrott