Tottenham Hotspur have booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa at White Hart Lane this afternoon.
A poor first half saw the two sides go into the break goalless, but second-half strikes from Ben Davies and Son Heung-min sealed Tottenham's progress as they made it six wins in a row across all competitions.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino made nine changes to the side that ended Chelsea's 13-match winning streak on Wednesday, and that appeared to halt any momentum they may have built as they failed to get going in an uninspiring and uneventful first half.
Indeed, the hosts managed just one shot in the opening 45 minutes - the first time that has happened at White Hart Lane since August 2011 - despite controlling the majority of the possession over their Championship opponents.
It took until the 29th minute for either side to have a shot of note, and even then it was a routine stop for Michel Vorm as he collected Leandro Bacuna's curling effort from range.
The closest Tottenham came to a goal in the first half arrived just before half time when Son played a one-two with Vincent Janssen on his way into the box, only for Jordan Amavi to get a tackle in and steer the ball a couple of yards past his own post.
Having failed to threaten at all before the break, it took less than a minute of the second half for Spurs to have their first shot on target when Janssen exchanged passes with Son before curling a shot into the arms of Sam Johnstone - making his debut for the visitors having joined on loan from Manchester United on Thursday.
The hosts had another decent sight of goal shortly afterwards when Kieran Trippier's deep cross found Son unmarked at the back post, but the South Korean fluffed his finish to waste the best chance of the match up to that point.
Janssen then put a header wide as Tottenham's attacking threat continued to grow, and Johnstone was finally called into his first serious piece of action shortly after the hour mark when he turned a powerful Son strike over the bar.
Villa's best opening of the game arrived shortly afterwards when both James Chester and Gabriel Agbonlahor had a go in a close-range scramble, but first Cameron Carter-Vickers and then Toby Alderweireld made important blocks to deny the Villa duo.
Johnstone was then needed to pluck a deflected Harry Winks strike out of the air before the opener finally arrived with just under 20 minutes remaining when Davies guided a Georges-Kevin N'Koudou cross into the bottom corner for his first Tottenham goal.
Moussa Sissoko almost doubled the advantage when he burst into the area before trying to sneak the ball past the keeper, but the angle was against the Spurs winger and Johnstone stood tall to make the save.
The second goal did come just a minute later, though, and this time Sissoko acted as provider, playing a one-two with Trippier down the right flank before giving a square pass to Son, who swept his finish home to all but seal the win for the home side.
Villa showed little sign of getting back into the game, and it could have been worse in the final minute of stoppage time when Johnstone was called upon one last time to deny Son a second after good work from Josh Onomah.
The result means that Tottenham have now won six games in a row for the first time since February and seven on the bounce at home for the first time since December 2006.
Villa, meanwhile, have fallen to back-to-back defeats for the first time under manager Steve Bruce and have now won just two of their last 35 away games in all competitions.
