Eriksen double sends Spurs through in style
Tottenham cruised into the EFL Cup fourth round with victory over League One outfit Gillingham.
Christian Eriksen scored twice and Vincent Janssen opened his Tottenham account in a 5-0 thrashing of Gillingham in the EFL Cup third round on Wednesday.
Mauricio Pochettino's men were a goal up at half-time through Eriksen and ran away with the match after the break at White Hart Lane as the attacking midfielder struck again before goals from Janssen, Josh Onomah and Erik Lamela - who also had three assists - put the icing on the cake.
Tottenham were runners-up in the competition in 2015 and their reward for progressing is a tough trip to play Liverpool at Anfield in the fourth round.
Spurs - unbeaten in the Premier League - were kept out until Denmark international Eriksen struck in the 31st minute, collecting Lamela's pass and smashing a magnificent strike past substitute goalkeeper Stuart Nelson from 25 yards.
Eriksen scored again three minutes after half-time, slotting in after Lamela's run had created the opportunity.
Janssen then struck his first Tottenham goal from the penalty spot on 54 minutes after Kieran Trippier had been brought down by Adedeji Oshilaja in the area.
The impressive Lamela picked up his third assist of the night by setting up Onomah for his first professional goal with a precise throughball.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
The winger then got a deserved goal of his own, driving hard into the bottom corner after Janssen had shown good strength to create the goal.
League One Gillingham came into the game on a four-match winless run and were unable to produce a shot on target as Spurs displayed too much class.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Dimitri Payet scored in the last minute as West Ham salvaged a 1-0 victory at home to League Two Accrington Stanley.
Southampton are through after Charlie Austin's penalty and a goal from Jake Hesketh saw them defeat Crystal Palace 2-0, while Paddy McNair's late double gave Sunderland a 2-1 win at QPR as David Moyes' men recovered from Sandro's opener.
Stoke City's miserable season went on as Markus Henriksen sealed a last-minute 2-1 victory for Hull City after Ryan Mason had levelled Marko Arnautovic's opener.
Also on Wednesday, Bristol City won an all-Championship tie 2-1 at Fulham to also reach the last 16.
‘Managing Leeds? It was an option that appeared, but it wasn’t the right timing. I decided it wasn’t a good idea to leave the club I was at mid-season’: Premier League boss admits to turning down opportunity to replace Jesse Marsch in 2023
‘Ruben Amorim could have waited for Real Madrid and had a better chance to be successful – to have joined Manchester United, he must be convinced in his own ability’ Former Old Trafford coach’s verdict on new boss