Middlesbrough v Tottenham: FA Cup third round – live! | Football

40 min: There have been 13 goals in the other FA Cup ties taking place at the same time as this one. If you don’t believe me, you can count them all here on our live scores page.

38 min: It’s going to take some twinkle-toed skill or a very clever pass from Eriksen, Moura or Winks to unlock this Boro back three. They’re ever so well drilled. Woodgate-esque in their composure too. And that’s without Ayala marshalling them.

34 min: Son controls a long ball under great pressure and does well to find the onrushing Moura. He drives forwards to the edge of the box and rolls the ball wide for Aurier. His cross is whipped in to the front post where Alli flicks and misses the chance to score with an extravagant backheel. To be fair, it was a difficult chance and it was probably the only way he could score as the cross was slightly behind him.

32 min: Spence drives forwards on the right after a neat one-two makes a spectator of Sessegnon. He has ta great chance to play in Roberts for a shot but his final ball is stabbed far too hard and rolls out for a goal-kick. That attack came after some patient possession at the back dragged Spurs out of position and gave Spence the chance to stretch his legs. That was much better play.

30 min: “Oh my gosh, there’s no VAR? What are we going to do?” squeals JR in Illinois. “If there’s no VAR then how are we supposed to verify that the referee’s calls are correct? (In case it’s not apparent I’m totally fooling around though if there was VAR at The Valley right now then West Brom should have had a penalty kick (and with VAR there’s about a 50% chance they would have got one) because a while back Naby Sarr blatantly stuck his hand up and knocked away a ball that was destined to land on Charlie Austin’s toe.)“

28 min: Spurs are firmly back in control and win their seventh corner. Eriksen whips a delicious ball in to the back post where Fry clears.

26 min: Spurs race up the other end and win a corner. Coulson fails to hook the ball away on the edge of the box and Sessegnon’s eyes light up as he picks up possession. But his shot is wasteful and sails off over the bar and towards the River Tees.

23 min: Winks concedes a free-kick. McNair hooks it into the far post, where Fry leaps highest and heads powerfully at goal. Gazzaniga is alert though, and throws himself down to make a fabulous save. The ball arrives at Saville’s feet and he slams a shot at goal that Gazzaniga saves again! A third shot from Saville is cleared off the line by Dier. Spurs survive!

21 min: Aurier whips a cross into the near post and McNair sparks momentary panic among the home fans as he sidefoots wide of said post by no more than an inch. the Spurs clrner is headed out for another flag-kick, which is curled in to the penalty spot where Moura handballs.

20 min: Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass. Spurs are winning the possession cup.

18 min: Aurier dinks a cross to the back post, where Sessegnon is waiting … but he’s offside.

16 min: Spurs are getting a lot of joy down the flanks which is odd considering that Boro are playing with wing-backs. All the pretty Spurs passing is going around the three Boro centre-backs, though, who are resolutely keeping their shape and not exposing any gaps.

14 min: Tottenham have completely robbed Boro of their early mojo by not letting them have the ball for what feels like the past 10 minutes. It’s flattened the atmosphere too.

12 min: Spurs win a corner. Eriksen swings it in but Fletcher leaps highest and clears.

10 min: Spurs are starting to find their groove now. Moura slaloms through midfield and slips a lovely ball in behind the Boro defence that Son is this close to getting to ahead of Mejias. The Boro keeper launches himself at the ball, though, and gets a strong hand on it to send the ball squirting to the edge of the box. Moura picks up the loose ball and slams a shot into a Boro defender – and this time the ball sails away to safety. This is lively.

8 min: Eriksen gets a sight of goal from just outside the box and clatters a shot straight at Mejias. It must move in the air slightly because the Boro keeper struggles to gather it in and is relieved to see it bounce back out of his midriff and past Son, who was lurking in the Kane position, nearby.

6 min: Some good news. There will be no VAR at the Riverside today!

4 min: Boro play the ball out from the back calmly. Spurs squeeze them back and then Howson pops a simple ball down the channel for Roberts. The ball is worked across the front line to Coulson, who wins a corner after clattering the ball into Aurier’s arm. There’s an appeal for a penalty but it was outside the box and Aurier could not move his arm out of the way. The corner leads to a corner on the other side. Not that either cause Spurs too many problems.

2 min: Boro win a corner after Spence slams a cross into Sessegnon. Moura heads clear and Coulson volleys well over from the edge of the box. It’s a fast start from Boro though. They’re well up for this.

1 min: Boro get the game under way. Patrick Roberts makes his debut for them today. He signed on loan from Manchester City on Thursday. He has an eye for goal all right. He’s one to keep an eye on.

The teams are out and the fans at the Riverside are making a fair racket despite there not being a full house. Boro are resplendent in red. Spurs are glowing bright in white. We’ll be under way very shortly.

All matches in the FA Cup third-round are kicking off a minute later than they would ordinarily to encourage fans to ‘Take A Minute’ to think about looking after their mental health, as part of the Heads Up campaign. It’s an important initiative. For more information, click here.

Robbie Keane and Jonathan Woodgate were speaking to BT Sport earlier. “The two of us know exactly what we need from each other,” says Keane. Woodgate is of the opinion that just because they’re young it doesn’t mean they haven’t already learnt a lot. “When people say they have no experience we’ve both been in the game for 20 years. We have no fear but let’s not forget that Tottenham are a world class team. We have a chairman who has put untold money into this football club and we want to have a [Cup] run for him.”

Of course, Boro’s assistant manager is former Spurs striker Robbie Keane. Here’s his son meeting José earlier. By the looks of it, Mourinho may have mistaken him for a pesky opposition ballboy. It’s not the warmest welcome you’ll ever see.

So both managers have made changes after hectic Christmas fixture pile-up but not as many as you might think. A quick glance at both sides in their last games shows that Boro have made four changes and Spurs, I think, have made three. Son starts for Spurs after his suspension. The last time he faced Boro at the Riverside he did this while scoring both goals in Spurs’ 2-1 win:

Middlesbrough: Middlesbrough: Mejias, Howson, Fry, McNair, Spence, Clayton, Saville, Coulson, Roberts, Tavernier, Fletcher. Subs: Nmecha, Gestede, Johnson, Wood-Gordon, Wing, Liddle, Brynn.

Tottenham Hotspur: Gazzaniga, Aurier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen,Sessegnon, Winks, Dier, Lucas Moura, Alli, Eriksen, Son. Subs: Sanchez, Lamela, Vorm, Lo Celso, Skipp, Tanganga, Parrott.

Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)

Afternoon! The last time Spurs won a trophy was 2008, when Jonathan Woodgate’s towering 94th-minute header sealed a dramatic 2-1 win over Chelsea in the League Cup final. He’s Middlesbrough’s manager these days and still knows the value of winning a cup. “Cups are what dreams are made of,” he said in the buildup to today’s third-round FA Cup tie. They’re also a handy way of forming a bond with your club’s fans, something that José Mourinho is keenly aware of.

In each of his first full seasons at Porto, Chelsea (in his first spell), Inter and Manchester United, he has won a trophy. He knows how much the FA Cup means to Tottenham. They’ve won it eight times and are third favourites with the bookies to add number nine to that impressive haul. With Pep Guardiola putting Manchester City’s focus on the Champions League and Jürgen Klopp placing Liverpool’s attention on the Premier League, the Cup offers Spurs a very good chance to end their 12-year trophy drought.

Mind you, Boro are in cracking form. After a dismal start to the season in which Boro goals were a rare as hen’s teeth, Woodgate has finally got the balance right between defence and attack. They have won four in a row since 20 December and conceded only one goal. Tottenham’s form has been far more patchy. A draw at Norwich and a defeat at Southampton in which Harry Kane injured a hamstring has made for a gloomy start to 2020. Mourinho will hope a Cup tonic can lift Spurs fans’ spirits.