LONDON, Feb 19: This season’s FA Cup favourites Tottenham Hotspur were held to a 0-0 draw at third tier Stevenage on Sunday while last term’s runners-up Stoke City reached the quarter-finals after prevailing 2-0 in another tricky-looking game at Crawley Town.

Spurs, third in the Premier League and with coach Harry Redknapp tipped to take over England, produced a lethargic display with a new five-man defence and had to settle for a replay at White Hart Lane next month.

Louis Saha had the ball in the net but his shot clipped an offside Scott Parker on the line to sum up a bad day for Spurs, the best-ranked team left in the Cup after holders Manchester City lost in an earlier round like Manchester United.

Gareth Bale had a superb shot tipped around the post by home goalkeeper Chris Day, a Spurs fan who started his career at the north London club.

Joel Byrom had two decent efforts for a hard-working Stevenage on a bumpy pitch and they now have the carrot of a home tie with Bolton Wanderers in the quarter-finals on March 17 or 18 to urge them on in the replay on March 7.

Stoke had a man harshly sent off but then scored a controversial penalty as they saw off fourth division Crawley.

Jonathan Walters converted the 42nd-minute spotkick, after Ryan Shawcross had gone to ground having barely been touched by Kyle McFadzean, before Peter Crouch headed a second after halftime to end a personal goal drought.

Rory Delap was sent off in the 16th minute for a studs-up challenge, the kind of tackle which has prompted much debate in England this season with referees deeming them dangerous but players saying they are just trying to win the ball.

Crawley, who lost 1-0 at Manchester United at this stage last season when they were a non-league side, almost took an early lead when the ball hit Crouch and crashed against the woodwork.

Arsenal’s miserable week got worse on Saturday when they were knocked out of the FA Cup in a 2-0 fifth-round defeat at Sunderland while beleaguered Chelsea fared only slightly better by scraping a 1-1 draw against second tier Birmingham City.

Three days after a 4-0 Champions League defeat at AC Milan that manager Arsene Wenger branded their ‘worst performance in Europe’, Arsenal’s sloppiness was back as Kieran Richardson’s strike and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s own goal sealed their fate.

Sunderland were joined in the quarter-finals by Everton and Bolton Wanderers who recorded 2-0 wins over Championship (second division) Blackpool and Millwall respectively, while Norwich City were upset 2-1 at home by second tier Leicester City.

Arsenal’s day at the Stadium of Light started badly when they lost Francis Coquelin to a hamstring injury with less than 10 minutes gone.

Lacking any sort of attacking spark while looking vulnerable at the back, with Johan Djourou and substitute Sebastien Squillaci short of confidence, Arsenal went behind five minutes before halftime after giving away a free kick.

Djourou had pulled back Craig Gardner needlessly to concede the kick, which Seb Larsson delivered only for Arsenal to half clear straight into the path of Richardson who blasted the ball into the back of the net thanks to a deflection off Squillaci.

Wenger’s side, who last weekend came from behind to beat the same opponents 2-1 in the Premier League, allowed their hosts to go further ahead in the 78th minute when Oxlade-Chamberlain sent the ball into his own net after Larsson had hit the post.

Results (Premier League unless stated, numerals denote division):

Played on Sunday: Stevenage (III) 0    Tottenham Hotspur 0

Crawley Town (IV) 0    Stoke City 2

Played on Saturday: Sunderland 2    Arsenal 0

Everton 2    Blackpool (II) 0

Norwich City 1    Leicester City (II) 2

Millwall (II) 0    Bolton Wanderers 2

Chelsea 1    Birmingham City (II) 1—Reuters