Preston vs Tottenham LIVE: Team news, line-ups and more from FA Cup fourth round as Harry Kane on bench
Antonio Conte is expected to make changes for Spurs’ trip to Deepdale
Conte asks Tottenham to bring back last season’s fighting spirit
Tottenham hope to build some momentum for the back half of their season as they travel to Preston in the FA Cup fourth round this evening. After a poor run of games that saw them lose to Arsenal and Manchester City in the Premier League, Spurs got back to winning ways last time out with a 1-0 victory over Fulham thanks to Harry Kane’s strike just before half-time.
Antonio Conte’s men are still struggling to find any sort of attacking rhythm but today’s cup match – against a Championship opponent – could come at just the right time to click them into gear once again. However, the reverse is also true. Should Tottenham lose to Preston today they could will face increased pressure to perform in the league as they attempt to close the gap on the top four.
For their part, Preston will be no pushovers. They’re 11th in the Championship and although they ended 2022 in a bad run of form since the turn of the year Preston have won three of their four matches including a 3-1 comeback win against Huddersfield in the previous round of this competition. Can they surprise Tottenham this afternoon?
Follow all the action from Deepdale as Preston host Spurs in the FA Cup:
Spurs first played Preston North End competitively in the FA Cup on 27th January, all the way back in 1900.
Then in the Southern League, Tottneham lost that first round clash 1-0 to in front of 7,000 fans at Deepdale.
But, just a year later, they were back in Lancashire at the same stage of the competition and produced a stunning 4-2 win in a replay on their way to writing history by becoming the first and only non-league team to lift the famous trophy.
Michael Jones28 January 2023 17:27
Illness could see Harry Kane miss out on the chance to become Tottenham Hotspur’s all-time leading scorer in Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Preston.
The Spurs forward went level with Jimmy Greaves on Monday when he hit the winner at Fulham to score his 266th goal for the club.
Boss Antonio Conte revealed afterwards Kane had struggled with a fever and he missed training on Wednesday and Thursday this week before he returned on Friday ahead of the weekend clash at Sky Bet Championship outfit Preston.
Michael Jones28 January 2023 17:22
Spurs will arrive at Deepdale to face off against Preston tonight for the first time since their meeting at the same venue in 2009 and Ryan Ledson believes his Lancashire side can cause an FA Cup shock.
Th midfielder said: “Obviously we’re coming up against some of the best players in the world. You only have to look at the front three with Harry Kane, Son, and maybe Richarlison.
“They’ve all just been at the World Cup so obviously they’re unbelievable players, and it’s good to test yourself. At Deepdale, hopefully it’s going to be a full house and the fans can get behind us and we can give it a real good go.
“Anything can happen; it’s football. In the FA Cup especially, you’ve seen some bigger shocks than Preston beating Tottenham. We’ll go there, it’s a free hit for us.
“We’ll go and enjoy ourselves, we’ll enjoy the day and give it a right good go.”
Michael Jones28 January 2023 17:17
Preston make two changes to the team that defeated Birmingham City in the Championship last time out. Ben Whiteman and Ched Evans return in place of Liam Delap and Ben Woodburn.
Antonio Conte meanwhile makes six changes to the Spurs side that defeated Portsmouth in the third round. Ben Davies, Emerson Royal, Pape Sarr, Oliver Skipp, Bryan Gil and Harry Kane all drop out with Clement Lenglet, Matt Doherty, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ivan Perisic and Dejan Kulusevski brought in.
Kane starts on the bench after missing training with an illness.
Michael Jones28 January 2023 17:12
Preston XI: Woodman, Whiteman, Storey, Lindsay, Hughes, Browne, McCann, Ledson, Brady, Cannon, Evans
Tottenham XI: Forster, Tanganga, Sanchez, Lenglet, Doherty, Bissouma, Bentancur, Sessegnon, Kulusevski, Son, Perisic
Michael Jones28 January 2023 17:00
The lights are on at Deepdale ahead of the 6pm kick off between Preston and Tottenham. The official team news will be dropping shortly.
(PA)
Michael Jones28 January 2023 16:58
Cristian Stellini was asked whether Tottenham’s new signing Arnaut Danjuma would start for Spurs today and he was non-committal with his reply saying:
“It depends on the system we use. In the system we use normally he could be a number 10, or a striker. This is the way we want to work with him. This season we lost Lucas for a long time, and we need a player to add to our rotation and it’s good to have him.
“He has experience, because he’s played good Champions League last season. He is a player that can play like a striker, like a winger. He has a lot of positions he can cover, so we are happy, and we are looking forward to working with him.
“It’s normal in January, you need time to give him all the information to play in our team. We are happy, we want to work with him and we are looking forward to working with him.”
Michael Jones28 January 2023 16:55
Leeds avoided another FA Cup upset by winning 3-1 at Accrington to reach the fifth round for just the fourth time in 20 years.
Jack Harrison’s stunning strike gave the Premier League side an interval lead and two goals in as many second-half minutes from Junior Firpo and Luis Sinisterra killed the tie.
But it was not all plain sailing for Jesse Marsch’s side and Sky Bet League One side Accrington deservedly pulled one back through teenage substitute Leslie Adekoya’s first senior goal.
But Leeds, dumped out of the cup by the likes of Hereford, Histon, Rochdale, Sutton, Newport and Crawley in recent years, had too much quality for their hosts and reached the last 16 for the first time in seven years.
Michael Jones28 January 2023 16:50
The substitute’s deflected strike clinched a 1-0 win to send the visitors into the fifth round and spare Youri Tielemans’ blushes. The skipper missed a second-half penalty before Iheanacho ended the Saddlers’ stubborn resistance.
Iheanacho, who also scored the winner in the 1-0 third-round victory at Gillingham, now has 17 goals in 23 FA Cup appearances.
Michael Jones28 January 2023 16:45
Harry Kane is a doubt for tonight’s FA Cup match against Preston after missing training due to illness earlier in the week. Antonio Conte’s assistant Cristian Stellini took the pre-match press conference and confirmed that Kane has travelled with the squad but may not feature.
“The most important thing we have to analyse is the condition of Harry [Kane].” he said, “He played our last match with illness. This week, he trained only today.
“He’s not perfect, but he wants to travel with us, and he wants to be involved in the game. He wants to play in every game.
“We’re happy he’s back, but the last three days were not so perfect for him, because he pushed himself a lot in the last game.”
Michael Jones28 January 2023 16:40
