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FA CUP: Tottenham cruise to victory as Lukaku and Matic fire United into semi-final

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Christian Eriksen scored twice as Tottenham reached the FA Cup semi-finals with a comfortable victory over Swansea at the Liberty Stadium. The midfielder hit a stunning strike early in the first half and hit the bar before Erik Lamela’s curling effort doubled Spurs’ lead. Eriksen made it three after the break with a powerful low drive.

Tottenham’s last-four opponents will be revealed in the draw on Sunday following Leicester’s tie with Chelsea.

Eriksen could have had an assist in the first half when he played in Son Heung-min but the striker’s goal was ruled out for offside – which was confirmed by the Video Assistant Referee.

Tottenham keeper Michel Vorm was forced to make a superb double save to deny Martin Olsson and Tammy Abraham seconds after the restart before Eric Dier’s fizzing effort came close. Son and Lucas Moura had close-range shots blocked but Eriksen settled the game with his second goal as Swansea could do nothing to prevent defeat in their first FA Cup quarter-final since 1964.

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Manchester United fired into semi-final

Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic scored a goal each to fire Manchester United past Brighton & Hove Albion into the semifinals of the FA Cup. The match, played at Old Trafford, looked like it was headed for nowhere before Matic spotted Lukaku waiting for the ball at the far post and whipped in an inch-perfect cross for the Belgian to nod beyond Tim Krul.

The cross from the Serbian was the stand-out piece of top quality in a game which largely failed to warm up the fans who had ventured out in the freezing temperatures. For Lukaku, it was a 25th goal in his debut season with United. He has now been directly involved in 14 goals in his 14 appearances in 2018, scoring 10 and assisting four.

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With seven minutes to go, Matic grabbed the win with a back-post header from Ashley Young’s free-kick. It may have been harsh on Brighton, but the two scorers were both deserving of goals.

Jose Mourinho, the Red Devils’ manager, was full of praise for the pair. He said: “I prefer to say that Matic and Lukaku are performing at a high level since day one until the last match. I cannot tell you the ones that are not performing.”

 

 

Additional report from NewsBreak

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