Harry Kane scored a hat-trick as Tottenham booked their place in the last eight of the FA Cup with a 3-0 win over Fulham.

Spurs barely needed to get out of second gear at Craven Cottage as they coasted to victory helped by a sloppy performance by their Championship opposition.

Kane opened the scoring with a quarter of an hour played, before adding two more after the break to put his side into the hat for this evening’s Sixth Round draw.

Going into the tie, Fulham had won four of their last five, while Tottenham had been beaten in lacklustre displays at Liverpool last Sunday in the Premier League and Gent midweek in Europe.

However, it was difficult to tell the Cottagers were the form side and they made things easy for the visitors in the first half with an error-strewn display.

Spurs had only scored once in their previous four games, but with 16 minutes gone they were gifted an opener by the west London side.

Kieran Trippier’s quick throw caught Fulham napping after they had already needless put the ball out of play, finding Christian Eriksen who squared to give Kane an easy finish.

The visitors perhaps should have doubled their lead seconds after the restart, a long ball over the top found Dele Alli, who failed in his effort to dink a shot over Fulham keeper Marcus Bettinelli.

If Tottenham were handed the opener on a plate, Michel Vorm almost returned the favour after 20 minutes, when his clearance was played straight to the feet of Tom Cairney on the edge of the box.

Fortunately for Vorm, Fulham’s captain on the day could only produce a tame effort on goal.

Despite producing little going forward in the first period, the Championship side could have gone in level at the break, if Sone Aluko had put a boot on Malone’s dangerous cross in stoppage time.

But five minutes after the break, Tottenham had a second when Eriksen was afforded acres of space in which to find Kane with a pinpoint cross, which the England striker tucked away.

Fulham introduced promising 16-year-old Ryan Sessegnon after an hour, but the youngster, who has been linked with Spurs this week, was unable to turn his current side’s fortunes around.

With 20 minutes to play, Kane had his third of the afternoon, when he slotted home from 12 yards out after Alli had played him in with a well-weighed ball behind the Cottagers’ defence.

The win sees Tottenham reach the Sixth Round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2012.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side will now try and overturn a 1-0 deficit against Gent in the Europa League on Thursday, before welcoming Stoke to White Hart Lane next weekend.