FA Cup – The Best Bits: Tottenham 2-2 Leicester (Photos & Highlights)

“We’re playing again on Wednesday in the Premier League and then obviously we’ll have to play away from home in a couple of games”. ‘He is getting better, ‘ Ranieri said on Monday. That player will come, but if he doesn’t it’s not a big worry for me.

Such a move could mean a start for new £3.7m signing Demarai Gray, who could be set to replace Marc Albirghton on the wing. “I think we made a very good performance and maybe we deserved to win because to concede two minutes from the end is very unlucky”.

With the clubs separated by four points in the top four, and a Premier League encounter looming at White Hart Lane on Wednesday evening, only the staunchest cup traditionalists would have expected Pochettino and Ranieri to do anything but make wholesale changes.

Leicester are second in the table, four points ahead of Spurs in fourth, and Vardy has been instrumental in their charge up the standings. “A player like Dele Alli we need to help him to improve, not to put him in a box”.

Pochettino has played the teenager in a variety of roles, including defensive midfielder and behind the front man. And he will continue to switch him in the hope he becomes a global superstar like Paul Pogba of Juventus.

Ranieri added: “I’m very, very pleased”.

Both sides made wholesale changes as Tottenham made seven alterations to Leicester’s eight – with Kane only on the Spurs bench and his fellow England forward Jamie Vardy not involved for the Foxes after recent minor groin surgery.

“This is a insane Premier League season and we will fight to achieve the maximum, but we will take it step-by-step”.

“The transfer market is finished for us”, said the Italian. “Every match is different but more or less they will play the same way but with other players and we play more or less the same way with other players”. “They kept us in the game and we’re happy we can repay them with a replay”.

Speaking after training on Friday, the Spurs manager was quoted saying by the official Tottenham Hotspur website: “Ryan and Mousa are very close but they are still out”.

“We always say it – the strength of the squad and the character of the group is probably our biggest strength”.