Today I'm going back six years to 2016 and another FA Cup 3rd Round Replay for Tottenham, this time against Leicester City at their King Power Stadium home, played in front of 30,006 spectators.
The tie attracted a lot of interest at the time as the two sides involved were amongst the leaders in the Premier League at the time and was going to demonstrate which one of the two sides were likely to prevail in the League. In the original game at White Hart Lane, the two sides fought out a 2-2 draw Leicester were unlucky not to be victorious. They had taken a second half lead through Shinji Okazaki and had other chances to bury Tottenham but failed to take them and, with one minute remaining, Harry Kane despatched a spot kick (his 50th goal for Tottenham) to take the game to a Replay. Okazaki frequently found himself on the bench that season, mainly due to the sparkling form of Jamie Vardy and the fact that his goal scoring return just wasn't enough for a striker. Okazaki scored just 19 goals in 137 games for Leicester (albeit that many of these appearances were as a substitute) although his return for his country (Japan) was significantly better (50 goals in 119 games). Okazaki now plays for Cartagena in the Spanish Segunda (2nd) Division.
In the Replay, Spurs, who had dominated possession throughout the first half took the lead six minutes before halftime thanks to a thunderous shot from the edge of the penalty area by Heung-min Son which left Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel grasping at thin air. Tottenham's subsequent second goal was scored by the Belgian Nacer Chadli to effectively put the tie to bed and Spurs into Round 4.
We didn't know it at the time but Leicester City's defeat was probably something of a blessing for them. It was to everyone's surprise that Leicester had mounted a Premier League title challenge that season. Strangely, Manchesters United and City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal all seemed to be having transitional seasons at the same time and it was left to Leicester and Tottenham to slug it out at the top of the League. Leicester City were the darkest of dark horses and had begun the season at odds of 5,000-1 to win the title. Leicester lingered at the top end of the table and almost every pundit predicted that they would come down with the Christmas decorations and that their title would eventually blow up. We waited and waited for one of the big hitters to put a run together. None came. Claudio Ranieri's Leicester, not having further FA Cup ties to trouble them, concentrated on their League campaign and, in the most incredible title win of my lifetime, Leicester stayed the course and won the Premier League for the first and probably only time ever. In the FA Cup, Spurs beat Colchester United in the 4th Round before succumbing to Crystal Palace at home in the 5th Round. Had Tottenham lost their FA Cup 3rd Round tie back in January, one wonders whether it might have been them and not Leicester becoming Champions that season?
CRB Match No. 2076
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