LONDON: Harry Kane’s hat-trick turned Tottenham Hotspur’s potentially tricky FA Cup fifth-round tie at Championship side Fulham into a Sunday stroll by the River Thames as they won 3-0 at Craven Cottage.

England striker Kane struck early on and twice after the interval to take his tally for the season to 19 as the eight-times FA Cup winners eased into the quarter-finals.

Stung by consecutive defeats and wary of becoming another weekend Cup shock after upsets involving Leicester City and Burnley, Mauricio Pochettino’s side produced a dominant performance.

Pochettino’s team selection reflected his desire for a positive result as he started with Kane, Dele Alli, Victor Wanyama and Christian Eriksen whilst bringing back Belgian central defender Jan Vertonghen for his first start since injuring an ankle last month.

“We had to recover the right feeling after two defeats,” said Pochettino. “We had to believe in the way we work and play and that is what is important. We had lost that a little bit.”

Kane said the margin should have been bigger.

“We played very well and probably should have had a few more goals,” he said. “I thought the manager was going to take me off soon but fortunately I was able to sneak the third one in.”

Fulham, who were relegated from the Premier League in 2014, were caught out by Tottenham’s speedy move down the right flank for the 16th-minute opener. Eriksen met Kieran Trippier’s long throw-in and delivered a cross to Kane, who slid in to nudge the ball over the line.

After being wasteful for the rest of the first half, Kane was quick off the mark six minutes after the break. Kane evaded US defender Tim Ream to meet another cross from Eriksen and put the ball between goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli’s legs.

Alli set up Kane’s third with a through-ball in the 73rd minute that the England striker fired past Bettinelli.

Victory helped Tottenham end a mini-slump in which their Premier League title hopes were severely dented by a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool followed by a Europa League defeat at Gent.

Three Premier League teams came unstuck in the fifth round on Saturday. Burnley were knocked out by fifth-tier side Lincoln, reigning Premier League champions Leicester were beaten by Millwall and Manchester City was held by Huddersfield.

Leicester’s problems continued to mount as they went down 1-0 at third-tier Millwall, who played most of the second half with 10 men following Jake Cooper’s 52nd-minute sending-off.

Shaun Cummings struck in the 90th minute on another day to forget for Leicester, who are fighting a relegation battle in the Premier League the season after winning it at odds of 5,000-1.

Millwall have also beaten Bournemouth and Watford on their run to the quarter-finals.

“When it was 10 versus 11 they played better than us with more desire and heart and deserved to win,” said Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri, whose side have lost five consecutive league games.

Ranieri made 10 changes for his side’s trip to south London Millwall — his eyes fixed on the his side’s relegation battle and a looming Champions League last-16 tie against Spanish club Sevilla.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City face an unwanted replay after drawing 0-0 at Championship high-fliers Huddersfield Town, three days out from their Champions League last 16 showdown with Monaco.

“It is not frustrating,” Guardiola said. “It was a tough game against one of the best teams in the Championship.”

Huddersfield enjoyed a record crowd of 24,000 at their John Smith’s Stadium as they matched Guardiola’s City.

“A clean sheet against Manchester City makes our chest bigger,” Huddersfield boss David Wagner said.

Chelsea, chasing a league and FA Cup double, restored some order with second-half goals from Pedro and Diego earning them a 2-0 win at Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers, conquerors of Liverpool in the previous round.

Middlesbrough quelled a stirring comeback by third-tier Oxford United to win 3-2 at the Riverside Stadium.

Chris Maguire and Toni Martinez scored within a minute of each other to haul Oxford level on 65 minutes after Grant Leadbitter’s penalty and recent signing Rudy Gestede’s first goal for the club gave Boro a commanding lead after 34 minutes.

But their hopes of emulating Lincoln and Millwall were ended four minutes from time when Cristhian Stuani tapped in Boro’s 86th-minute winner.

Published in Dawn, february 20th , 2017