Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
Tottenham 2-0 Newport County: Erik Lamela’s confident performance among three talking points
Tottenham qualified for the fifth round of the FA Cup with a routine home victory over League Two Newport County.
The Welsh side can feel proud that they made their more illustrious opposition work hard for a spot in the next round.
After a superb performance a couple of weeks ago, Michael Flynn’s side started brightly at Wembley and caused Spurs problems once again.
However, the class soon shone through and the hosts could have scored more on another evening.
Here are three talking points from the match…
Tottenham have a great chance of winning the FA Cup
Although Mauricio Pochettino’s team selection showed that this competition isn’t a priority at present, they are now entering the fifth round and that should focus attentions.
Tottenham have been drawn to face Rochdale away from home in the next round, which will be a tricky tie, but one they should progress from.
If they do manage to avoid a shock against a League One side, they will be in a great position to lift the trophy.
As Pochettino has yet to win a major trophy as a manager, he should be taking this competition seriously as a triumph would be a landmark in both his and the team’s progression.
Anybody that has followed Premier League football over the last three years will rave about the quality of the squad that the Argentine has put together, but a trophy would take it to them to the next level.
Despite the FA Cup losing its magic, it remains a well-respected competition and it would mark a successful season if Tottenham were to win it in May.
Newport County emerge with respect
It was always going to be a difficult tie for Newport County, but these two matches will be looked back on with fondness as they more than played their part.
During the first fixture, they had several great chances and led for a long period of the game.
Although they conceded a late equaliser, they managed to hold a team that had previously beaten Real Madrid this season and that is a remarkable achievement.
Few people expected a similar performance on Wednesday, but they competed well in the early stages and tried to attack Tottenham at Wembley.
Once the first goal went in, there was only one winner.
However, Newport continued to work hard and they didn’t allow the score to get embarrassing.
They will have feared a humiliation at the hands of Tottenham, especially after seeing fellow League Two side Notts County get thrashed away to Swansea City, but it was far from that.
The Welsh club exit the competition with pride and they can now focus on challenging for a play-off place in the league.
It will be interesting to see how they and Notts County react from these defeats, especially as one was far more embarrassing than the other.
Erik Lamela took a major step in his recovery
The Argentine attacker has been out for a long time with a serious injury and Tottenham are being careful in the way they are managing him back to full fitness.
He has shown some nice flashes in the Premier League since his return, but this was the first time that he looked back to his former self.
Lamela was running the games at times and looked full of confidence, trying to make things happen for his side.
It would have been easy for him to go through the motions against lower league opposition, but he appeared motivated and that is an encouraging sign for the future.
Lamela scored the second goal to put the game beyond doubt.
It was nice movement from the Argentine winger to find space in the box before coolly slotting past Joe Day.
This was his first goal since returning from injury and it will give him confidence to take into a crucial run of matches for Tottenham.
His critics will point to the quality of the opposition, but he can only play what is in front of him.
Also, he was the only Spurs’ player to find the back of the net on Wednesday, which does make him look good.
At the age of 25, it is time for the Argentine to push on and fulfil the potential everybody knew he had when he arrived in England.