Championship side Middlesbrough welcomes Tottenham Hotspurs at the Riverside Stadium in the 5th round of the FA Cup. Middlesbrough have not managed to beat Spurs in any of their last five meetings. They faced each other in the 3rd round of the FA Cup back in 2020, when Spurs won the replay 2-1, thanks to first-half goals from Giovani Lo Celso and Erik Lamela.
The home side have been pretty good in their two FA Cup games so far. They beat Mansfield Town 2-3 in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. A late own goal by Elliot Hewitt handed Middlesbrough the ticket for the 4th round.
Boro knocked out one of the Premier League giants in the last round and find themselves in the 5th round against Spurs. They played a thrilling game against Manchester United in the 4th round which ended 1-1 after 90 minutes. As the replays have been canned this year, the game went into penalty shoot-outs with Middlesbrough as the eventual winners.
Middlesbrough will be hoping to repeat their performance from the 4th round to sink another Premier League side and enter the quarter-finals.
Middlesbrough Form: D W L W L
Tottenham Hotspurs come into this game on the back of a four-goal win against Leeds United. Spurs were brilliant on the night as Doherty opened the scoring on the 10-minute mark. Kulusevski and Kane got onto the scoring sheet to make it 0-3 inside 30 minutes. Son’s late goal sealed a 0-4 win for Spurs.
The away side have beaten Morecambe and fellow Premier League team Brighton on their way to the 5th round of the FA Cup. They will be the favorite to go through to the quarter-finals from this fixture.
Spurs Form: L L W L W
Middlesbrough vs Spurs: Team news
Middlesbrough:
The Boro have just one injury concern as Marc Bola misses out due to injury. Matt Crooks has served his suspension and will be available for selection.
Middlesbrough may field the same line-up that they did against Manchester United in the last round. Chris Wilder might be reluctant to change a winning formula.
Possible Middlesbrough starting lineup
Lumley; Dijksteel, Fry, McNair; Jones, Crooks, Howson, Tavernier, Taylor; Balogun, Sporar
Tottenham Hotspurs
Meanwhile, Spurs will have several absentees due to injuries. Rodrigo Bentancur, Oliver Skipp, Lucas Moura, and Japhet Tanganga all remain injured for this game. Reguilion returned to the bench in their 4-0 win against Leeds last weekend. Conte might see this as a good fixture to give him some game time.
Conte might rest some of his first-team players to keep them fit for the Everton game next week.
Possible Spurs starting lineup
Lloris; Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Winks, Hojbjerg, Reguilon; Kulusevski, Kane, Son
Our prediction
Middlesbrough 1-2 Tottenham Hotspurs
Middlesbrough will not make this game easier for Spurs. But the Premier League side have too much firepower up front for Middlesbrough to cause an upset. With the likes of Son, Kane, and Kulusevski, they will find a way to get past Chris Wilder’s men.
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