Southampton channelled the spirit of their 1976 FA Cup-winning side by sensationally dumping out Arsenal, whose 14-match unbeaten away run in all competitions came to a crashing halt in this quarter-final tie at St Mary’s.
Mikel Arteta had almost two weeks to stew on the Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City, as his attention turned to a cup competition that had yielded the only piece of major silverware during the Spaniard’s tenure to date.
With a treble on the line, the Gunners had two early chances for Max Dowman and Gabriel Martinelli, with the latter’s effort superbly blocked by Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
The Championship high-flyers were in no mood to accept their fate as cannon fodder, though, as Léo Scienza raced through one-on-one with Kepa Arrizabalaga before being successfully marshalled away from goal by Cristhian Mosquera.
The Gunners were looking to up the ante, with Daniel Peretz called into action to parry away Martin Ødegaard’s strike. He had another chance moments later, blazing a close-range effort over the bar, much to Arteta’s frustration on the touchline.
And he would have felt much worse when Ross Stewart fired the Saints ahead with a clinical finish at the end of a swift counterattack, as James Bree’s ball looped over Ben White and allowed the Scotsman to fire home past Kepa.
Dowman had a chance to net an equaliser when his effort was blocked by Ryan Manning, but it was Arsenal’s uncharacteristically sloppy play at the back that was almost their undoing once again.
Gabriel gifted the ball to Tom Fellows with a lackadaisical cross-field pass, but blasted his shot over the target. Scienza then came agonisingly close to scoring a second Southampton goal in stunning fashion, cutting inside from the left before unleashing a right-footed strike, which cannoned off the bar.
That near-miss would prove to be costly, as substitute Viktor Gyökeres – fresh from securing Sweden a FIFA World Cup berth with a winning goal against Poland – made the desired impact when he slotted home from Kai Havertz’s cut-back after the German was found by Gabriel’s through ball.
Arsenal would have been tipped to go on and win the tie from that point, and Dowman had his sights on being the match-winner with a fine left-footed strike that was tipped behind by Peretz.
Martinelli then shot wide from the resulting corner, but amazingly, it was Southampton who struck next, as Fellows made a driving run forward and laid the ball into the path of substitute Shea Charles, who calmly placed a fine finish past Kepa, which clipped in off the post.
After six nerve-shredding minutes of stoppage time for the hosts, Tonda Eckert’s side held on for a famous victory and a place in the semi-finals.
The German becomes only the third Saints manager to win his first four games in the FA Cup after George Goss in 1925 and Alan Pardew in 2009/10. They now have a trip to Wembley to look forward to, while Arsenal see the chance to win another trophy go begging in what has been a sobering fortnight for Arteta’s team.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Léo Scienza (Southampton)
