Fernando Llorente nets hat-trick as Tottenham thrash Rochdale in FA Cup replay overshadowed by VAR drama

An utterly ruthless second-half showing from Tottenham sets up an FA Cup quarter-final tie against Swansea on 17 March, though inevitably much of the post-match discourse will be fixated upon that VAR-dominated first 45 minutes.

That is all from me, thanks for following along. Be sure to join IBTimes UK again tomorrow night as - weather permitting - Carabao Cup finalists Arsenal and Manchester City lock horns for the second time in just five days.

Until then, it's goodbye.

Full-time

Tottenham 6-1 Rochdale

Walker-Peters plays a lovely one-two with Alli before netting his first Tottenham goal with virtually the last kick of the game.

Goal: Tottenham 6-1 Rochdale (Kyle Walker-Peters)

Alli embarks on a brilliant jinking run but the ball gets away from him before he can pull the trigger.

The England midfielder gets a second bite at the cherry, but Adshead is able to block.

Walker-Peters works his way to the byline but the ball gets held up a touch in the snow and his low cross is intercepted.

Three minutes of added time for Rochdale to endure. This match has been over as a contest for quite some time.

Delaney meets Done's corner but his header sails miles over the crossbar.

A perfect hat-trick - left foot, right foot, header - no less.

His last was for Athletic Club Bilbao against Rayo Vallecano.

Rose fouled Thompson before that delay. The match restarts with a Rafferty free-kick that is headed straight at Vorm by a diving Henderson.

Another break in play while snow is shovelled off the lines of the pitch. It's been impossible to tell where the Rochdale penalty area begins in this second half.

A brief run-out for young Walker-Peters as he replaces Lucas. That was Pochettino's third and final change.

Into the final 10 minutes at a snow covered Wembley. Tottenham coasting towards the quarter-finals.

16-year-old Adshead comes on to make only his ninth Rochdale appearance. Cannon the man to make way.

Lamela's bending left-footed free-kick cannons back off the post before Alli turns the rebound towards Lillis.

McGahey dispossesses Lamela before the game devolves back into a mere training exercise for Tottenham.

McNulty then crudely body checks substitute Alli.

No second treble as Son makes way for Alli.

Thompson, a man who has twice beaten cancer, tries to catch out Vorm with an audacious effort from the right flank that lands on the roof of the net.

Rochdale have just had no answer to Tottenham's quality and movement in this second half.

Lucas finds Lamela and the Argentine turns the ball inside for Son to tap into an empty net.

Could we see two Spurs hat-tricks tonight?

Goal: Tottenham 5-1 Rochdale (Heung-Min Son)

Pochettino's first change sees Dembele replace Winks, who has very much flattered to deceive again tonight.

Vorm races off his line to make a timely interception before Rochdale replace Mark Kitching with Joe Thompson.

More misery for deflated Rochdale as Llorente heads in Son's cross from point-blank range.

A 12-minute second-half hat-trick from Harry Kane's back-up has taken this tie away from the League One side in a hurry.

Goal: Tottenham 4-1 Rochdale (Fernando Llorente)

Hill looks to his bench for the first time tonight. Davies - hero of the first clash at Spotland - replaces goalscorer Humphrys.

Finally back on the goal trail...

While they have been occasionally shaky at the back tonight, Tottenham look like scoring every time they go forward.

Rochdale are made to pay for some overly passive defending as Llorente prods home Lucas' cutback to double his goal tally for the season in the space of six minutes.

The visitors now have a mountain to climb.

Goal: Tottenham 3-1 Rochdale (Fernando Llorente)

Lillis comes rushing off his line once more as heavy snow again swirls across Wembley.

Tottenham restore their lead 73 seconds after the interval.

Lamela, perhaps fortunate to avoid a second yellow card for a foul on Camps, releases Lucas and the Brazilian carries the ball forward before sliding in an onside Llorente.

The Spaniard impudently lobs the ball over the onrushing Lillis to record only his third Spurs goal.

Goal: Tottenham 2-1 Rochdale (Fernando Llorente)

Trippier cops a painful blow to the face from Camps but looks fine to continue.

Second half kick-off is retaken after a spot of encroachment. It's really been one of those nights.

Regardless of whether or not those VAR decisions were correct, the time taken to reach the decisions and the complete and utter lack of communication with fans inside the stadium is an absolute shambles.

Where to even begin with that incident-crammed first 45 (50) minutes?

This picture pretty accurately sums it up...

Half-time

Tottenham 1-1 Rochdale

Boos for the officials at the break, with Winks in particular querying some of those decisions.

A dominant end to this bizarre but utterly engrossing first half from Rochdale.

Lamela goes in hard on Camps and becomes the third Tottenham player to receive a yellow card.

Lamela's shot from a corner is blocked before a timid penalty appeal is quickly waved away.

Confident Dale earn another corner as Done gets in behind the Spurs defence. Son clears.

Woodwork!

Rochdale come agonisingly close to taking the lead after Henderson gets a slight touch on Vorm's panicked clearance.

Humphrys picks out Cannon, whose shot across the goalkeeper smacks the outside of the post.

Foyth takes down Humphrys and joins Son in the book.

All those delays have led to FIVE minutes of first-half stoppage time.

A routine stop from Lillis, who holds onto Lamela's header after the Argentine is picked out by a Trippier cross.

Plenty more snow falling onto the Wembley turf now.

Lucas weaves his way past several blue shirts before seeing a low pass towards Lamela cut out by McGahey.

Trippier's corner evades everyone inside the box.

Tottenham looking a bit rattled before Lamela forces a smart low save from Lillis.

Dier gets caught out by a neat Rochdale one-two involving Henderson and McGahey does well to win a free-kick off Son at the other end.

Rochdale enjoying themselves now.

This crazy game takes another sizable twist as Foyth fails to cut out a finely-weighted pass from Cannon.

Humphrys' excellent first touch takes him away from Vorm and the Fulham loanee makes no mistake with the finish.

Pochettino has a face like thunder.

Goal: Tottenham 1-1 Rochdale (Stephen Humphrys)

Son produces a stuttered run-up before coolly dispatching his spot-kick into the bottom corner.

However, that little feint results in the goal being disallowed and the player receiving a yellow card, much to his bemusement.

More boos and more delays as the VAR intervenes once more, although it is the correct decision by the letter of the law. This has been an utterly bizarre opening half an hour.

Penalty to Tottenham

Boos ring around the ground and the players throw their arms up in exasperation as the VAR takes an age to make the decision...

Trippier goes down under the challenge of Done. The referee gives the free-kick but that foul, which started outside, continued into the box and now the VAR will decide if that was a penalty...

Nothing for the VAR to quibble about here as Tottenham do take the lead after 24 minutes.

Lamela tees up Son after good play from Foyth and Trippier and the South Korean forward cuts inside Rafferty and McGahey before curling a fine strike into the bottom corner.

Goal: Tottenham 1-0 Rochdale (Heung-Min Son)

After a spot of pinball on the edge of the Rochdale box, McGahey drapes his arm across Lucas and the Brazilian instantly throws himself to the ground in theatrical fashion.

No penalty says Tierney and the VAR concurs during the next stoppage in play.

Done feeds Cannon inside the Tottenham penalty area and the latter is dispossessed by Rose, who secures the hosts a goal kick.

A full-blooded sliding challenge from Humphrys leaves Winks in a heap. Brilliant tackle.

Lamela earns another corner off Cannon and Rochdale survive once more.

Callum Camps floats an excellent pass behind Kieran Trippier and into the path of Matty Done, who takes the ball on his chest before dragging a shot narrowly wide of the far post.

Henderson arrived too late to think about getting a touch.

VAR, not for the first time, taking an absolute battering on social media from spectators both inside and outside of the stadium after that controversial decision.

Rochdale look just as surprised as anyone here as McGahey and McNulty concede two more corners in quick succession.

Pochettino explaining his frustrations to fourth official Roger East.

NO GOAL

It appears that Llorente has been accused of pulling back McGahey just before that Lamela finish. That is an incredibly harsh decision.

Tottenham have the ball in the net. Josh Lillis parries Son's low shot into the path of Llorente, who keeps the attack alive and allows Lamela to sidefoot home from close range.

Referee Tierney is checking with the VAR...

Foyth executes a nice Cruyff Turn near the byline after coming under serious pressure from Humphrys.

Tottenham then win another corner and Jimmy McNulty does enough to force Llorente into heading Lamela's latest delivery over the crossbar.

Heung-Min Son races forward on the counter-attack for Tottenham and his pass towards Llorente is deflected behind by Ryan Delaney.

Andy Cannon heads clear the subsequent Lamela corner.

Early pressure from Rochdale, with Vorm snuffing out the threat of Henderson.

Referee Paul Tierney gets this cup replay off and running. Blue lines on the pitch....

A reminder that VAR is in operation again this evening.

Henderson actually gave Dale the lead on the stroke of half-time at Spotland, before Lucas netted his first Tottenham goal after the break and Kane came off the bench to notch a late penalty after Harrison McGahey fouled Alli.

Fellow substitute Davies then netted in the 93rd minute to force this money-spinning replay.

Dier for Alderweireld and Lamela for Wanyama are Tottenham's only alterations from the first clash between these two sides, for what it's worth.

Rochdale's squad, meanwhile, is exactly the same. Less than 10 minutes until kick-off.

Talk of a 'Wembley curse' now a distant memory...

Pochettino has never lost in 19 games to a side from a lower division than the Premier League as a manager in English football, per Opta Sports.

Any chance that changes this evening?

Pochettino, meanwhile, insisted it was too early to think about Tottenham potentially ending their trophy drought and denied that his side were guilty of complacency at Spotland.

I don't believe this. Like it was against Newport, always the circumstances are so difficult. Look at Manchester City at Wigan or other Premier League teams that have struggled to compete in difficult circumstances.

It's so difficult to explain but the reality is that the FA Cup is a very difficult competition because it increases the level of lower opponents and the motivation and sometimes this situation happens.

Hill, in his second stint in charge of Rochdale, has been keen to play down the Wembley factor ahead of the match...

I'm looking forward to the game, not the trip. It's not a day out. We are trying to do what would be an impossible task - play at Tottenham's home ground and win an FA Cup fixture, a replay. It is a very difficult task for Premier League sides, never mind ourselves.

Is it a dream to play at Wembley? It is a dream to win at Wembley. You'd rather be playing at Wembley in a cup final. It just happens that it's Tottenham's home ground this season. Too much is made of the special occasion - we are playing Tottenham in a replay.

[quotes via BBC Sport]

-12 with the windchill factor at Wembley tonight. Gloves and snoods all round!

The winners of this evening's game will face Swansea City at lunchtime on Saturday 17 March after goals from Jordan Ayew and Nathan Dyer helped the relegation battlers to down Carlos Carvalhal's former employers Sheffield Wednesday last night and reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 1964.

Keith Hill makes two alternations to the side narrowly beaten by Wigan, with Joe Rafferty and Stephen Humphrys replacing Wiseman and former Manchester United trainee Oliver Rathbone.

Adshead and Kgosi Ntlhe come onto the bench as Knott and Hart drop out.

Nine changes in total from Spurs, unbeaten in 15 matches, with only Eric Dier and Erik Lamela retaining their starting berths. January signing Lucas Moura makes his second start for the hosts.

Davinson Sanchez, Mousa Dembele, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli all form a strong-looking bench alongside Kane, the scorer of eight goals in his last six FA Cup games, who is kept in reserve just in case.

Paulo Gazzaniga backs up Vorm with Hugo Lloris given the night off and there is also a spot among the substitutes for 20-year-old Kyle Walker-Peters.

Official team news is imminent...

While Spurs are currently fourth in the Premier League and looking to progress through to the last eight of Europe's elite club competition, Rochdale sit 11 points adrift of safety at the foot of the third tier after a 1-0 loss at Wigan and could drop into League Two for the first time since 2013–14 after winning only five of 30 matches so far.

However, this cup run means they have between three and five games in hand on the teams above them, so all is not lost quite yet.

It is also worth noting that only the Latics' Will Grigg [7] has bagged more FA Cup goals than Dale captain Ian Henderson this term.

Rochdale, meanwhile, are expected to be missing as many as seven first-team players for only their second-ever cup replay against top-flight opposition.

Key striker Calvin Andrew remains sidelined with an achilles issue, while the quartet of Scott Wiseman, Alex Dobre, Billy Knott and Sam Hart are all cup-tied.

Defenders Niall Canavan and Keith Keane are also expected to miss out through injury, meaning that teenage trio Daniel Adshead, Aaron Morley and Matty Gillam will all return to the squad.

Tottenham, who overcame Crystal Palace 1-0 in an early kick-off on Sunday thanks to a late header from Harry Kane, will remain without influential Belgian defensive duo Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen tonight, though the latter could make his return from an ankle injury against Huddersfield at the weekend.

Mauricio Pochettino has already confirmed that he intends to further rotate his squad for yet another midweek fixture that comes just seven days before the second leg of their finely-poised Champions League last-16 meeting with Juventus, meaning that the likes of Harry Winks, Fernando Llorente, Moussa Sissoko and Victor Wanyama should all start.

The wintry conditions brought by the so-called Siberian 'Beast from the East' may have closed numerous schools and motorways, wreaked merry havoc on the train network and cancelled scores of flights in addition to forcing the postponement of several sporting events both north and south of the border, yet we are pleased to say that tonight's clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Rochdale at Wembley Stadium has just about survived the big freeze.

However, supporters have been urged to arrive at least an hour early for the FA Cup fifth-round replay, which was forced after Steve Davies' dramatic injury-time leveller secured a 2-2 draw for League One's bottom club in a rip-roaring David versus Goliath tie on a newly-laid pitch at Spotland on 18 February.

5146 and 17 coachloads of hardy travelling fans were expected to make the trip to snowy London this evening to watch their side in action at the home of English football - where Spurs are undefeated in 13 matches across all competitions - for the first time since 2008, when they lost to Stockport County in the League Two play-off final.

It's difficult to see too many home fans braving the elements this evening, so we anticipate a far lower crowd than even the 38,947 that watched the 2-0 victory over fourth-tier Newport County earlier this month.

Stay tuned for all the latest updates and team news ahead of kick-off at 19.45 GMT.