Marine v Tottenham: Kane out to avoid another non-league nightmare

Sunday s FA Cup encounter between Marine and Tottenham is the kind of clash that really captures the imaginations of supporters, as non-league meets Premier League.

Ordinarily such an occasion would mean a potentially vital cash influx for the smaller side, with match tickets selling out quicker than ever and TV crews descending on a modest ground in their droves.

While it won t be quite the same this time given the coronavirus pandemic, it still promises to be a special day for Marine, who have sold over 5,000 virtual tickets.

Playing in the Northern Premier League Division One North West, the eighth tier of the English football pyramid, Liverpool-based Marine will host a Spurs team that is used to competing in the Champions League.

It represents a whole new kind of challenge for the non-league side, though it is also an opportunity for the unlikeliest of giant killings .

Ahead of the match, we looked at the Opta data behind contests between non-league sides and the titans of the Premier League.

Goals, goals, goals are leading the way when it comes to finding the back of the net this season!

— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup)

THE SIZE OF THE TASK

The magic of the cup is that on a given day, any team could potentially beat any other, and that s surely the attitude Marine will want to take into the weekend.

Though, obviously the reality is rather more stark.

Since the Premier League s inception in 1992, only twice have non-league sides defeated top-tier opposition.

The first was in 2013 in the fourth round, as Luton Town claimed a 1-0 win over Norwich City.

It ended a run of 27 years since top-tier opposition had lost to a non-league side, with Altrincham having eliminated Birmingham City in 1986.

The only other occasion since then occurred in 2017, as Burnley lost 1-0 to Lincoln City, who made it as far as the quarter-finals.

There is also a coincidental link to that Norwich defeat with Sunday s contest – Spurs star Harry Kane was in the Canaries side that day during an unsuccessful loan period at the start of his career.

Those two wins for non-league teams have come from 52 matches, with 42 unsurprisingly ending in victories for the top-flight sides.

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