FA Cup
Result: Tottenham Hotspur 6-1 Rochdale
Date: 28 February 2018
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Tottenham Hotspur cruised into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup after thumping Rochdale 6-1 in their replay, with Fernando Llorente netting a hat-trick.
Spurs made nine changes from their Premier League win over Crystal Palace, with familiar faces from the first clash at the Dale returning.
The hosts looked to take an early lead after Erik Lamela propped up in the box to tap home, only for the VAR officiating team to disallow the goal.
After struggling with the visitors high-pressing game, they finally took the lead when Son Heung-Min cut inside before slotting past Josh Lillis after 23 minutes.
The infamous Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was in the picture once again after it awarded a penalty for a foul by Kieran Tripper, with Song converting from the spot only for it to be disallowed by the VAR officials, much to the outrage of the home crowd.
The visitors' die-hard attitude, which came to the fore in the first fixture, stood up when they pulled level through Stephen Humphreys on the half and hour mark.
With five minutes added at the end of the first stanza, the League One side came close to go in front after Andy Cannon struck the post with Michel Vorm well beaten.
However, Spurs wasted no time to re-establish their lead, with Llorente neatly dinking the ball over an on-rushing Lillis.
A third soon followed where Llorente got in a good position for an easy tap-in following a string of good passes in the 53rd minute.
The Spaniard completed his hat-trick with a header from a body of defenders following a cross by Son in the 59th minute.
The roles were reversed later on as Llorente played in the Korean international, who finished comfortably for a five-goal haul.
It almost got worse for the League One strugglers as they watched Lamela's free-kick come off the upright.
Substitute Kyle Walker-Peters rounded off the clash with the sixth in added time to set-up a quarterfinal meeting with Swansea.
