Hat-trick hero Harry Kane tears Fulham apart as Tottenham march into FA Cup quarter-finals

Fulham 0 Tottenham Hotspur 3: Kane will always be the indispensable man for Spurs and once again proved his worth with all three goals in this London derby

Kane fires his third goal past Fulham goalkeeper Bettinelli (Getty)

The Tottenham players know that they need to win a trophy this season but in the last few weeks they have played as if they had forgotten that. Not here today though. They took Fulham apart at Craven Cottage, winning 3-0, all three from Harry Kane, marching into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

If Spurs achieve anything this season or next, it will be thanks to Kane and the way he drags this team along with him. They have other good players who are important to the system, as Danny Rose’s current absence shows. But Kane will always be the indispensable man. Spurs would be nowhere without him.

When Kane plays well Spurs play well and it is no coincidence that their recent downturn is linked to his. He had not scored in open play in five weeks, just as Spurs’ new year brilliance started to lose its shine. He was not even expected to start this game after hurting his knee in Belgium on Thursday.


 Kane was in imperious form 
 (Getty Images)

But Kane did start and immediately set about tearing away at Fulham with his powerful runs. The first goal was a perfectly-timed far-post lunge from a quick move. The second a sharp movement from a clever cross. The third came from running behind onto a pass. When he plays like this he is very difficult to stop.

It was the perfect response from Kane and the players to one of the worst weeks in Spurs’ season. They did not show up at Anfield last Saturday and did not do much better in Ghent on Thursday, ending their chance of winning the Premier League and then jeopardising their Europa League campaign too.

But Spurs played today as if a switch had flicked in their heads over the last 48 hours. As if they realised that they are too good a side never to win anything, and that this year’s FA Cup campaign is a chance they cannot pass up. There are not many better sides than Spurs left in this competition and if they are not at Wembley for the final on 27 May they will have failed.

Harry Kane celebrates scoring his first goal of the afternoon at Craven Cottage (Getty)

What was so impressive about Spurs was how they rediscovered the high-energy high-pressing game that characterises Spurs at their best. They looked flat and leggy in Liverpool and in Gent but this was very different. Kane, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Heung-Min Son swarmed all over Fulham, taking advantage of Slavisa Jokanovic’s commitment to playing the right way. When Fulham played out Spurs won it back. When Fulham pushed up Spurs got in behind.

Fulham are a tidy, busy team and for the first 15 minutes they did make it difficult for Spurs. But it only took one slip of concentration from Fulham for Spurs to take the lead. Kieran Trippier played a quick throw-in down the line to Eriksen. He let it bounce then whipped in a perfect cross to Kane at the far post. Swift, simple and incisive, the type of goal that marked the difference between the teams.

Spurs dominated the rest of the first half and had chances for a second goal which they missed. They had to wait until early in the second half, another goal through a similar route. The move was started by Harry Winks, impressive again, setting the tempo, and he found Trippier. He came inside to Eriksen and another great cross, this one from deep, was turned in by Kane.


 Winks was impressive for the Premier League side 
 (AFP/Getty Images)

From then the only question was whether Kane would get three and when he lobbed over from Alli’s pass it looked as if he would not. But then Alli slid him in again and there was no doubt that he would finish.

Fulham kept trying to play and Kevin McDonald and Scott Parker both went close with headers from set-pieces. But they were a Championship team playing against a Premier League side desperate to prove a point, and against a Spurs team playing like this they never stood a chance. Now Spurs go to Wembley on Thursday, hoping to overturn the deficit against Gent and make it into the next stage of Europe. If they keep playing like this, they will be there on 27 May.

Fulham (4-3-3) Bettinelli; Odoi, Kalas, Ream, Malone; Cairney, McDonald (Parker, 74), Johansen; Aluko (Cyriac, 60), Kebano, Ayite (Sessegnon, 57)

Spurs (4-2-3-1) Vorm; Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Davies; Winks (Dembele, 79), Wanyama; Eriksen, Alli (Onomah, 85), Son; Kane (Sissoko, 77)