Thu 01 March 2018, 06:00
Tottenham HotspurFernando Llorente is relishing the chance to face another familiar foe in the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup.
The Spanish striker stunned Rochdale with a 12-minute hat-trick in midweek as we romped to a 6-1 home victory against the League One side in our fifth round replay, setting up a trip to Premier League rivals Swansea City in the last eight later this month.
With the field thinning out as we approach the business end of the campaign, ex-Swans front man Fernando is confident we can extend our cup run even further, but warned that we can’t afford to overlook the resurgent south Wales outfit when we meet them on 17 March.
“Swansea have improved a lot in the last few weeks,” explained Fernando, who opened his Premier League account for us on his first return to the Liberty Stadium in our colours back at the start of January, when we secured a 2-0 victory.
They’ve won important games at home against Liverpool, against Arsenal and I think it will be very tough to play against them, maybe more difficult than when we played against them in the league.”
Clearly boosted by his stunning treble this week, which took his overall tally for the season to five, Fernando was quick to point out that our cup competition adventures so far this season have coincidentally resembled something of a reunion tour for him!
“It’s unbelievable – always we find ourselves against my ex-team-mates!” he laughed. “In the Champions League, it was the same against Juventus. Like Swansea, I played at Juve too and now we’re going to another one of my old clubs in the FA Cup.
“Being serious, though, it will be a difficult game in the next round. When the time comes, we have to prepare very well for the game at Swansea because it will be important for us to keep progressing.”
