Harry Kane fired Tottenham past third-tier Portsmouth and into the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday as 2021 winners Leicester emerged from a tough game against lowly Gillingham.
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Elsewhere on a busy day in the third round, Southampton came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 in a Premier League clash to give manager Nathan Jones something to sneer at.
Antonio Conte made changes to Spurs for the match against League One Portsmouth but kept his heavyweight forward line including Kane and Son Heung-min.
An out-of-form Kane broke the deadlock in the 50th minute, receiving the ball on the edge of the box and curling a fine effort past the diving Josh Griffiths.
Kane, with four goals in four games since his penalty miss against France knocked England out of the World Cup, now has 265 goals for Spurs – just one behind the club’s all-time record goalscorer, Jimmy Greaves.
Spurs, who have won the FA Cup eight times, were unable to add to their tally but saw out the match comfortably to win 1-0.
“It was a tough game,” Kane told the BBC. “We are the clear favorites and people might have expected a bigger score, but credit to them, they kept their composure and made it difficult.”
The 29-year-old said he was trying not to focus on catching up with Greaves.
“I try not to think about it,” he said. “Sometimes you can think too much. Obviously I feel good and I feel fit. My thought is to help the team and hopefully the goals will come.
– Leicester avoid shock –
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, who led his side to the trophy two years ago, made a number of changes after their third successive Premier League defeat this week.
But they retained veteran striker Jamie Vardy for the match against fourth-tier Gillingham, who are bottom of the English Football League.
Vardy was the provider as Kelechi Iheanacho scored the only goal of the game in the 56th minute – just his second goal of the season.
Leicester squandered a chance to double, but were unable to do so and will now turn their attention to Tuesday’s League Cup quarter-final against Newcastle.
Nigeria international striker Iheanacho said it was difficult to break down the opposition in the early stages of the match but hailed the win as important.
“It gives us the motivation to go into the next cup competition,” he said. “We’re playing Newcastle. It’s revenge because they beat us in the Premier League.
“It won’t be easy, but we will go in and fight until our last breath to make sure we win.”
Last year’s semi-finalists Palace took on Premier League basement club Southampton through Odsonne Edouard.
But Saints leveled in the 37th minute after some poor defending from the hosts. James Ward-Prowse sent what appeared to be a harmless free-kick into the area, but Joel Ward misjudged his effort to go forward.
The ball bounced inside the box before deflecting off goalkeeper Vicente Guaita, who moved in the right direction but couldn’t stop it going into the net.
Southampton took the lead for the first time midway through the second half.
Guaita tried to make a routine clearance from outside the area when Adam Armstrong came in, stole the ball from the Spaniard and had plenty of time to find an empty net.
Preston came from behind to beat Huddersfield 3-1 while Reading beat Watford 2-0.
Liverpool take on Wolves in Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash, with Manchester City hosting Chelsea on Sunday.
Manchester United beat Everton 3-1 on Friday in another Premier League match.
Forest Green’s game against Birmingham was postponed on Saturday due to flooding.