Though backed by a passionate crowd at a sold-out Deepdale, the Lilywhites playing host were very much on the back foot in the opening 45 minutes. In the first major chance, Ivan Perisic‘s free-kick was deflected into the path of Dejan Kulusevski, who had his shot blocked from close range by Ryan Ledson.
However, Preston had a good opportunity to open the scoring themselves, when defender Andrew Hughes had his volley inside the area blocked.
Son Heung-min’s recent form has been of concern for Spurs supporters, but the South Korean was heavily involved in the first half, and saw his effort from distance tipped over the crossbar by Freddie Woodman.
Not intimidated by last season’s Premier League top-gun, Ryan Lowe’s side battled impressively in the remaining first-half minutes and managed to keep the visitors at bay.
Preston could take several positives from the opening act’s latter moments, but having lost their last five FA Cup meetings with Premier League sides, they were more than wary of Spurs’ strength in depth.
The visitors themselves were in need of inspiration if they were to find an opener, and they found just that when Son’s speculative effort from range found the bottom-left corner to give them the lead five minutes after the restart.
Now six home games without a clean sheet, Preston dutifully battled for an equaliser. But an inspired Son put the result beyond doubt with 20 minutes remaining, when he powered home a shot from the edge of the area past a despairing Woodman, before new arrival Arnaut Danjuma scored a goal on his debut to add extra gloss to the scoreline.
Antonio Conte’s side ultimately breezed into the fifth round, racking up just their third victory in eight FA Cup matches with ease.
As for Preston, their attention now turns to the Championship play-off race, following the club's first failure to score in an FA Cup home game since 2014.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Son Heung-Min (Tottenham Hotspur)
