Twelve months on from their FA Cup fifth round humiliation at Middlesbrough, Tottenham once again exited the competition in embarrassing fashion at the hands of Championship opposition. Their late 1-0 loss at Sheffield United was unacceptable and ultimately it was a major opportunity missed in their quest to end their silverware drought.
Heading to Sheffield on the back of successive Premier League wins against West Ham and Chelsea, Spurs appeared to be travelling to Bramall Lane in the perfect moment but again they just never got going. It was very much a carbon copy of their 1-0 defeat on Teesside one year earlier.
Following a flurry of Premier League teams crashing out of the competition, the FA Cup and a place at Wembley appeared to be opening up perfectly for Tottenham as they eyed up a first final appearance since 1991. Antonio Conte and Cristian Stellini, as expected, made changes to their side, with the headline news seeing Harry Kane, Cristian Romero and Dejan Kulusevski dropping down to the bench to give those on the periphery of the first team a start.
