Southampton take FA Cup shots at Arsenal and Portsmouth (Saints fans will love)

Southampton have taken FA Cup shots at Arsenal and Portsmouth after winning 2-1 in the FA Cup quarter-final at St. Mary’s. Saints fans will love this.

April couldn’t have started any better for Southampton than this. The Saints have dumped Arsenal out of the FA Cup quarter final which still feels unbelievable to the St. Mary’s faithful.

It goes without saying but Southampton fans were excited for this FA Cup tie for weeks. Both the Saints and Arsenal had lost only two games in 2026 prior to this meeting so it wasn’t a huge mismatch as it felt on paper. Southampton and Arsenal were also fairly balanced on the injury front.

Mikel Arteta had doubts over the participation of key trio Martin Odegaard, Jurrien Timber and Noni Madueke. On the other hand, Tonda Eckert’s men got Leo Scienza’s injury boost but Flynn Downes and Jack Stephens were still significant absences nonetheless.

Southampton vs Arsenal match review

Southampton were quite calm in their approach from the start. It made sense too. After all, conceding an early goal and then crumbling under pressure to go 3-0, 4-0 down would have been the last thing Southampton would want.

The game’s first real chance fell to Southampton. Leo Scienza raced forward on goal from a Daniel Peretz goal kick, and left Kepa on the ground before Arsenal’s Cristhian Mosquera intervened. The visitors also tried their luck with a few decent crosses but nothing came of it.

Afterwards, up stepped Ross Stewart. The build up for this FA Cup clash had tell-tale signs for Ross Stewart scoring vs Arsenal and he didn’t disappoint. James Bree chipped a long ball into Stewart’s path whose marker Ben White mistimed his jump to leave the Scot alone in front of goal.

Stewart netted the 1-0 opener and boosted hopes for a magical FA Cup evening at St. Mary’s. Arsenal posed many questions to the Southampton backline and eventually got the 1-1 equaliser from a Viktor Gyokeres tap-in. Southampton had a tough time denying Arsenal from scoring a few more in the second half.

When the tie felt destined to go to extra time, Tom Fellows drove all the way from the final third to the Arsenal box to find Shea Charles who placed his effort in the bottom corner. Arsenal pushed more and more for a second equaliser but the Saints clinged on to the 2-1 lead to knockout Arsenal from the FA Cup.

Southampton take FA Cup shots at Arsenal and Portsmouth

Arsenal fans were riding high on confidence, better put overconfidence before the kickoff. A vast majority of them got offended after watching the Southampton admin post a corner graphic for the FA Cup tie.

Now, Arsenal fans are even more angry as Tonda Eckert’s men have defeated Mikel Arteta’s future Premier League winning squad. Many of them are either downplaying the FA Cup’s importance or just branding this 2-1 Saints win as fluke.

Well, the Southampton admin is not letting these takes slide under the radar. Replying to an annoyed Arsenal fan, Southampton wrote on X: “Enjoy your quadruple, pal”

More shots were fired later with the Southampton admin captioning: “We had too much for an injury-plagued Arsenal”

Now over to local rivals Portsmouth. How can Southampton forget them? Especially after how much noise they made for restricting the Saints to two draws in the Championship this season.

Before Tonda Eckert and co faced Arsenal, the Pompeys were also pitted against them. Surprisingly, Portsmouth nicked an early 1-0 lead which didn’t last long. Arsenal hammered Portsmouth 4-1 to send them crashing out of the FA Cup third round.

Southampton defeated Arsenal 2-1 in the FA Cup and again reminded everyone who is the biggest club on the South Coast. The Saints admin did the same by captioning: “Beating Arsenal isn’t for everyone”

Overall, this 2-1 St. Mary’s evening was the perfect night every Southampton fan could have hoped for. Hopefully, there is a further Wembley evening to celebrate in store for the Saints.