Tottenham Draw Wycombe Wanderers in FA Cup
By Ryan Wrenn
After Sunday’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa, Tottenham will host League Two’s Wycombe Wanderers at White Hart Lane in the FA Cup’s fourth round.
The match, due to take place on January 28th, will be a surprisingly but welcome change of pace for Tottenham. Most teams might expect to face tougher opponents from round to round. Here, Spurs will play a team that has struggled to find a way out of English professional football’s lowest tier.
Indeed, a full 69 places separate Wycombe Wanderers and Spurs as of this writing. Say what you will about the FA Cup, there’s no denying that it finds a way to create some interesting matchups.
Mauricio Pochettino will take this as welcome news. Spurs could, in theory, have drawn any of their current rivals to the Premier League title. All of those sides — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and the Manchester clubs — will be obliged to play a side from either the Premier League or Championship.
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Wycombe, to their credit, earned their chance to visit White Hart Lane. Since they first entered the tournament in November, they have beaten Portsmouth, Chesterfield and, most recently, Stourbridge. None are formidable opponents by Tottenham’s standards, but for a club in the fourth division those wins were far from guarantees.
Does that mean they can hope to beat Spurs come the 28th? No one in their right mind would bet on them, through crazier things have happened. As any football fan can tell you, luck plays an outsized role in even the most lopsided of contests.
Pochettino will nonetheless use this as a chance to rotate his squad. February stands to be a busy month, with only one seven day break. Tottenham’s first team will need to be ready to hit the ground running when they travel to Sunderland three days after this Wycombe match.
That means more appearances from the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Harry Winks, who might have started regardless of the opposition.
Next: Tottenham Players React to Win over Aston Villa
Given Wycombe’s lowly standings, Pochettino might even feel so brave as to give first starts to one or more of the more promising members of the Academy. Kyle Walker-Peters already earned a spot on Tottenham’s bench Sunday and might expect to start. Nor would it be a surprise to see Marcus Edwards and Shayon Harrison play a role as well.