Middlesbrough v Tottenham: FA Cup third round – live!

8 min: Eriksen gets a sight of goal from just outside the box and clatters a shot straight at Mejias. It must move in the air slightly because the Boro keeper struggles to gather it in and is relieved to see it bounce back out of his midriff and past Son, who was lurking in the Kane position, nearby.

6 min: Some good news. There will be no VAR at the Riverside today!

4 min: Boro play the ball out from the back calmly. Spurs squeeze them back and then Howson pops a simple ball down the channel for Roberts. The ball is worked across the front line to Coulson, who wins a corner after clattering the ball into Aurier’s arm. There’s an appeal for a penalty but it was outside the box and Aurier could not move his arm out of the way. The corner leads to a corner on the other side. Not that either cause Spurs too many problems.

2 min: Boro win a corner after Spence slams a cross into Sessegnon. Moura heads clear and Coulson volleys well over from the edge of the box. It’s a fast start from Boro though. They’re well up for this.

1 min: Boro get the game under way. Patrick Roberts makes his debut for them today. He signed on loan from Manchester City on Thursday. He has an eye for goal all right. He’s one to keep an eye on.

The teams are out and the fans at the Riverside are making a fair racket despite there not being a full house. Boro are resplendent in red. Spurs are glowing bright in white. We’ll be under way very shortly.

All matches in the FA Cup third-round are kicking off a minute later than they would ordinarily to encourage fans to ‘Take A Minute’ to think about looking after their mental health, as part of the Heads Up campaign. It’s an important initiative. For more information, click here.

Robbie Keane and Jonathan Woodgate were speaking to BT Sport earlier. “The two of us know exactly what we need from each other,” says Keane. Woodgate is of the opinion that just because they’re young it doesn’t mean they haven’t already learnt a lot. “When people say they have no experience we’ve both been in the game for 20 years. We have no fear but let’s not forget that Tottenham are a world class team. We have a chairman who has put untold money into this football club and we want to have a [Cup] run for him.”

Of course, Boro’s assistant manager is former Spurs striker Robbie Keane. Here’s his son meeting José earlier. By the looks of it, Mourinho may have mistaken him for a pesky opposition ballboy. It’s not the warmest welcome you’ll ever see.

So both managers have made changes after hectic Christmas fixture pile-up but not as many as you might think. A quick glance at both sides in their last games shows that Boro have made four changes and Spurs, I think, have made three. Son starts for Spurs after his suspension. The last time he faced Boro at the Riverside he did this while scoring both goals in Spurs’ 2-1 win:

Middlesbrough: Middlesbrough: Mejias, Howson, Fry, McNair, Spence, Clayton, Saville, Coulson, Roberts, Tavernier, Fletcher. Subs: Nmecha, Gestede, Johnson, Wood-Gordon, Wing, Liddle, Brynn.

Tottenham Hotspur: Gazzaniga, Aurier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen,Sessegnon, Winks, Dier, Lucas Moura, Alli, Eriksen, Son. Subs: Sanchez, Lamela, Vorm, Lo Celso, Skipp, Tanganga, Parrott.

Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)

Afternoon! The last time Spurs won a trophy was 2008, when Jonathan Woodgate’s towering 94th-minute header sealed a dramatic 2-1 win over Chelsea in the League Cup final. He’s Middlesbrough’s manager these days and still knows the value of winning a cup. “Cups are what dreams are made of,” he said in the buildup to today’s third-round FA Cup tie. They’re also a handy way of forming a bond with your club’s fans, something that José Mourinho is keenly aware of.

In each of his first full seasons at Porto, Chelsea (in his first spell), Inter and Manchester United, he has won a trophy. He knows how much the FA Cup means to Tottenham. They’ve won it eight times and are third favourites with the bookies to add number nine to that impressive haul. With Pep Guardiola putting Manchester City’s focus on the Champions League and Jürgen Klopp placing Liverpool’s attention on the Premier League, the Cup offers Spurs a very good chance to end their 12-year trophy drought.

Mind you, Boro are in cracking form. After a dismal start to the season in which Boro goals were a rare as hen’s teeth, Woodgate has finally got the balance right between defence and attack. They have won four in a row since 20 December and conceded only one goal. Tottenham’s form has been far more patchy. A draw at Norwich and a defeat at Southampton in which Harry Kane injured a hamstring has made for a gloomy start to 2020. Mourinho will hope a Cup tonic can lift Spurs fans’ spirits.