Middlesbrough vs Tottenham LIVE: FA Cup fifth round result, final score and reaction tonight

Middlesbrough have been in indifferent form since knocking Manchester United out of the FA Cup in the last round. They’ve played five Championship games with two wins, two losses and a draw. Last time out Boro went three goals down against Barnsley inside of an hour and couldn’t claw back a result despite two second half goals from Andraz Sporar and Liam Kitching respectively.

Tottenham come into the game on the back of a 4-0 victory over Leeds in which Harry Kane once again stole the show. Spurs have lost three and won two of their five Premier League games since defeating Brighton in the last round of the FA Cup and they are poised to make a run at the Champions League spots.

Matt Crooks has completed a two-game suspension and should come back into the Middlesbrough starting XI but Marc Bola is definitely out with a knee injury.

Riley McGree missed Middlesbrough’s game against Barnsley at the weekend with a tight calf and is a doubt for tonight’s match but Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun is pushing for a starting place.

For Tottenham, Rodrigo Bentancur misses the game with an ankle problem with Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga doubtful to feature. Lucas Moura could miss out as well after a knock in training forced him out of Tottenham’s 4-0 victory over Leeds.

Tottenham boss Antonio Conte insists there is always a “strategy” behind his dramatic press conferences.

The Italian appeared to cast doubt over his future after last week’s defeat to Burnley when he claimed he was “not good enough” to fix Spurs’ problems and that the club needed to make an assessment on his position.

The comments, which came 24 hours after he said he was happy at the club, were put down to Conte being an emotional character, but he says that his words always carry a specific intention.

“I think that you have to understand when there is a strategy or not and not only an emotional moment,” he said.

“It is not right to stay here and explain why I talk in a way and after three days I spoke in another way. Maybe I can explain to you, every time we have a press conference there is a strategy behind it, not an emotional moment.

“I understood that was the right moment, after four defeats in five games and winning the game against Manchester City three days ago, to send the right message, a clear message to myself, the club and also the players.”

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