Everton reached the FA Cup quarter-finals with a dramatic 5-4 win over Tottenham Hotspur after extra time to pile further pressure on manager Jose Mourinho as Manchester City eased their way into the last eight by knocking out Swansea on Wednesday. With Tottenham scheduled to visit City in the Premier League on Saturday, the last thing Mourinho would have wanted was a demoralising defeat after a 30-minute overload two days before.  

Tottenham have lost four of their last five games with one of three chances to end the club’s wait to win a trophy in cup competitions now gone. Mourinho said, “Attacking football only wins matches when you don’t make more defensive mistakes than you create.” He also once described a 5-4 result as a “hockey score”.

“It was a game of the mouse and the cat. The mouse was defensive mistakes and the cat was the brighter side, scoring goals, but clearly it wasn’t enough,” Mourinho added.

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Spurs made a bright start at Goodison Park as Davinson Sanchez got them their first goal in just three minutes. 

The defensive errors have costed Spurs in recent months, like Everton struck them three times in seven minutes just when the half-time was about to end, through Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson’s penalty.

Erik Lamela’s deficit was reduced in the first half of the stoppage time before another unusual goal for Sanchez made it 3-3. Richarlison then smashed home from a narrow angle to restore the lead. 

To ease Harry Kane’s return from an ankle injury, Mourinho had left him on the bench. However, the England captain ended playing for more than an hour and met Son Heung-min’s cross at back post with a header seven minutes from time to get the game into extra-time.

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Everton’s assistant manager Duncan Ferguson said, “It was a long night for everybody, but we came out on top which is what matters.”

City will face Everton next Wednesday and the defending from both sides will encourage Pep Guardiola’s players, after they made a record in English football after consecutive wins by a top-flight club.

City, who have a five-point lead with a game in hand at the top of the Premier League table, are going to face Tottenham in the League Cup finals in April and resume their challenge to win their first Champions League in the last 16 against Borussia MG later this month.

“It is amazing for ourselves, we cannot deny how pleased and proud we are to break this record, records are there to be broken, but they have to do well (to beat it),” Guardiola said.

“15 games in a row is not a cakewalk in this modern era.” he added.

Leicester had to wait until the 94th minute to make a 1-0 victory over Brighton in the last eight, thanks to Kelechi Iheanacho’s header.

Sheffield United also only needed a single goal to see off Bristol City 1-0 because of Billy Sharp’s penalty after Alfie Mawson was dismissed for handling David McGoldrick’s goal-bound shot.