Tottenham Hotspur simply have to take the FA Cup seriously this season.

A clash with Middlesbrough on Sunday is seen as something of a soft third round draw.

Managed by former Spurs defender Jonathan Woodgate, they are currently 16th in the Championship and, until recently, had been struggling.

They have won their last three games, however, beating Stoke City, Huddersfield Town and West Brom on the bounce.

But this is an encounter that, really, Spurs should be winning and with that comes the danger of complacency.

After a hectic festive schedule – Spurs played seven games in December in all competitions – there is likely to be a temptation to rotate.

There are youngsters at the club who need game time, the likes of Juan Foyth, Kyle Walker-Peters, Oliver Skipp and Troy Parrott.

But there is very little sense in completely ripping up the gameplan purely because there is an opportunity to.

No clues whatsoever: Which seasons do these iconic Spurs images belong to?

After all, there is precious little opportunity for Spurs to win much else this season. They are already out of the Carabao Cup thanks to a faux pas against Colchester United – in which Mauricio Pochettino made multiple changes and started Parrott up front – and will need a miracle to reach a second successive Champions League final.

As for the Premier League, it is top four or bust; Liverpool are 13 points clear of second-placed Leicester City and 25 clear of Spurs. There isn’t any room for a chase there. Chelsea are five points clear of their London rivals in fourth but there is no trophy for qualification, despite what Arsene Wenger may have had you believe.

The FA Cup, then, is really Spurs’ only chance of glory this season. They haven’t won the competition since 1991 and have failed to even reach the final in the years since.

A number of semi-final appearances – in 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2010, 2012, 2017 and 2018 – have borne absolutely no fruit whatsoever. They have lost to the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Portsmouth in that time, as well as a defeat to Manchester United in 2018 at Spurs’ then-home ground of Wembley Stadium.

Of course, some of it depends on the luck of the draw. This season, Spurs would hate to play Liverpool away from home in the fourth round, for example, but Mourinho has to give them the best possible chance of success.

To do that, he needs to play his best team against Boro and ensure they go through.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans have criticised one man for his display against Norwich.