Key events<\/p>\n
Show key events only<\/p>\n
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n
Southampton make five changes after the 2-0 Championship win over Oxford United. Nathan Wood, Cam Bragg, Caspar Jander, L\u00e9o Scienza and Ross Stewart come in for Cameron Archer, Shea Charles and Cyle Larin, who are benched, and Flynn Downes and captain Jack Stephens, who miss out altogether.<\/p>\n
Arsenal make seven changes following the Carabao Cup final, the most eye-catching of which is a start for 16-year-old Max Dowman. Cristhian Mosquera, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Christian N\u00f8rgaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and captain Martin \u00d8degaard also step up; William Saliba, Viktor Gy\u00f6keres and Mart\u00edn Zubimendi are on the bench, while Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Piero Hincapi\u00e9 and Leandro Trossard are all absent.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a>The teams<\/p>\n Southampton: Peretz, Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Wood-Gordon, Manning, Bragg, Jander, Fellows, Azaz, Scienza, Stewart. Arsenal: Arrizabalaga, White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Norgaard, Dowman, Havertz, Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus. Referee: Sam Barrott (West Yorkshire).<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.13 EDT<\/p>\n Preamble<\/p>\n Their unfortunate no-show at the League Cup final apart, Arsenal have taken some stopping this season. Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester United required dramatic late goals to best them in the Premier League and \u2026 er \u2026 that\u2019s it. So on the face of thing, this should be a shoo-in for the leading club in England against second-tier opposition. Especially as Arsenal have won 45 of their last 48 FA Cup ties against teams from lower divisions; they\u2019ve won 14 of their last 16 quarter-finals; tonight\u2019s opponents Southampton<\/a> have lost all of their last five quarter-finals against top-flight opposition; and Arsenal are four from five against the Saints in the FA Cup, a record that includes victory in the 2003 final.<\/p>\n But nothing\u2019s ever that simple in the FA Cup. Arsenal<\/a> may have that 80 percent record against Southampton in this competition, but it\u2019s Saints who won the last meeting, 1-0 in January 2021. And while Arsenal are this season\u2019s form team in England, Saints aren\u2019t on a bad roll either, unbeaten in 14 games, having won six of their last seven. Fold in the fact that Arsenal\u2019s victory at St Mary\u2019s on the final day of last season was only their seventh win in 18 visits, at a venue where they\u2019ve tasted defeat six times, and suddenly things aren\u2019t quite so crystal clear.<\/p>\n You\u2019d still expect the quadruple- treble-chasing Premier League leaders to prevail tonight; of course you would. But the FA Cup<\/a> is fond of the odd surprise, and Arsenal have a crucial trip to Sporting Club coming up in three days\u2019 time, so you just never know how this will pan out. The story begins at 8pm BST. It\u2019s on!<\/p>\n
Subs: Long, Quarshie, Romeu, Charles, Edozie, Robinson, Archer, Oyekunle, Larin.<\/p>\n
Subs: Raya, Saliba, Gyokeres, Madueke, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Harriman-Annous, O\u2019Neill, Salmon.<\/p>\n