Southampton look to spring a cupset as they meet Arsenal in the Quarter-Finals of 2025-26 FA Cup.
Victory would see Southampton reach the semi-finals for the first time since the 2020-21 season, whilst Arsenal last reached the final four a further season earlier.
Teams
Flynn Downes and Kuryu Matsuki are suspended for Southampton after they picked up their second bookings of the FA Cup campaign in their fifth-round win at Fulham last month.
Leo Scienza and Ross Stewart will be available after the pair sat out the Saints’ 2-0 home win over Oxford United before the international break.
Jack Stephens is a doubt after he suffered an ankle injury in training.
Arsenal will welcome Martin Odegaard (knee) and Jurrien Timber (groin) back into contention, after the pair sat out their Carabao Cup Final defeat to Manchester City.
Piero Hincapie (muscle) and Noni Madueke (knee) won’t be involved following their return from international duty for Ecuador and England respectively.
Martin Zubimendi withdrew from Spain’s squad due to a knee issue, whilst Gabriel, William Saliba, Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka withdrew from Brazil, France, Belgium and England squads respectively due to fitness concerns but are set to be available.
Eberechi Eze (calf) and Mikel Merino (foot) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Southampton host Arsenal at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday 4 April at 8pm BST, live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and TNT Sports 1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Southampton have won just one of their five previous FA Cup ties against Arsenal (W1, L4), although they did lose their second tie 2-0 in a replay after a 1-1 draw in the Quarter-Finals of 1978-79 edition.
- Arsenal have won one of their two previous FA Cup visits to Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium (W1, L1), having won 5-0 at the fourth-round stage in 2016-17 edition then lost 1-0 at the same stage four seasons later.
- Southampton have kept one clean sheet in this season’s FA Cup (W3).
- Noni Madueke has scored in each of Arsenal’s last two FA Cup matches (W2).
Prediction
Currently unbeaten in their last 14 matches across all competitions and with home advantage, Southampton in a way have nothing to lose as underdogs against the Premier League leaders yet they have a crucial trip to Wrexham on Tuesday in the Championship Play-Offs race.
I nevertheless expect them to at least try and give Arsenal a good test for the home crowd but their priority realistically has to be on league matters, not that extending their cup run could benefit them momentum wise in the Championship too.
Arsenal meanwhile just lacked the clinical edge against Man City at Wembley Stadium before the break because they absolutely should of been out of sight by half time, yet they switched off after the break and couldn’t find the reset button amidst small costly fumbles so a reset is needed.
The amount of international withdrawals within their squad also will ring alarm bells amongst desperate clickbait journalists questioning their psychological bottle, but I do think that they will actually have the upper edge with players fully rested and fresh for the run-in.
It is also worth acknowledging that Arsenal have one eye on their Champions League Quarter-Final’s first leg away to Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday, so I expect to see a mix of fringe and regular players within both starting line-ups here but the Gunners should really edge this.
Prediction: Southampton 1-2 Arsenal
Result: Southampton 2-1 Arsenal
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