A cracking second half at White Hart Lane nearly saw Spurs surrender a three-goal lead but the Lilywhitesily whites came out on top in what turned out to be a tense affair.
Spurs were cruising to victory when Fraser Forster's legs let him down. A simple pass to Radu Dragusin was underhit and picked off by Bruno Fernandes who set Joshua Zirkzee up for a simple finish to make it 3-1.
Just 10 minutes later Forster failed to deal with a perfectly acceptable Archie Gray backpass with his extra touch allowing Amad Diallo to race in and poke the ball home with a slide tackle to make it 3-2.
Son Heung-Min then scored directly from a corner, thanks to a helping hand from Lucas Bergvall, to end United's hopes of a comeback. Jonny Evans did score a third for United from a corner but it was too little too late for Ruben Amorim's side who crash out of the Carabao Cup at the quarter-final stage.
Spurs were simply able to take advantage of the opposition sides' errors more than Manchester United were. Dominic Solanke scored two goals, one in the first half and one in the second, thanks to United's defenders sleeping on the job with Dejan Kulusevski being the second beneficiary of poor United defending after a perfectly cushioned ricochet off Lisandro Martinez found the Swedish attacking-midfielder in the box.
The win was almost gifted to Tottenham who were arguably the second-best team on the night. United had 11 more shots than their opposition and bested Spurs on the possession front in the second half (40% vs 60%). They also created 2.56 xG which was nearly two more than Spurs could muster (0.67).
Ruben Amorim will be desperately disappointed with his side who just could not control their own destiny tonight. Meanwhile, Ange Postecoglu will be happy with the win but it is likely that he will be venting his own frustrations after Tottenham nearly threw the game away.
Spurs will face Liverpool in the next round. This could set up a potential North London Derby in the final which would be the first NLD in any final. United meanwhile are left with further disappointment in a season that has likely completely slipped away from them.
