{"id":586156,"date":"2026-04-05T02:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T02:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/586156\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T02:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T02:07:09","slug":"southampton-2-1-arsenal-5-apr-2026-game-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/586156\/","title":{"rendered":"Southampton 2-1 Arsenal (5 Apr, 2026) Game Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Super substitute\u00a0Shea Charles<\/a> fired Southampton to Wembley as Tonda Eckert’s Championship side stunned Premier League<\/a> leaders Arsenal<\/a> in a famous FA Cup quarterfinal victory.<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta’s injury-disrupted side arrived at St Mary’s as overwhelming favorites a fortnight on from its galling Carabao Cup<\/a> final defeat to Manchester City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, its treble tilt ended on the south coast after Charles<\/a> secured a late 2-1 victory as Southampton bounced back from Viktor Gy\u00f6keres<\/a> canceling out Ross Stewart<\/a>‘s first-half opener.<\/p>\n

A semifinal at Wembley awaits later this month for the Championship playoff hopefuls, who are dreaming of replicating Lawrie McMenemy’s second-tier Saints winning the FA Cup in 1976.<\/p>\n

It was just a fifth defeat of the campaign for Arsenal, who sit nine points clear at the top of the Premier League but have plenty of soul-searching to do after costly back-to-back cup losses.<\/p>\n

There was an electricity around St Mary’s before kickoff — an intensity matched by Southampton’s players, who looked unmoved by the fact they were hosting the Premier League’s best.<\/p>\n

L\u00e9o Scienza<\/a> saw an early penalty shout against Gabriel Magalh\u00e3es<\/a> ignored during an end-to-end start, with 16-year-old Max Dowman<\/a> denied before Taylor Harwood-Bellis<\/a> headed over a threatening Gabriel Martinelli<\/a> effort.<\/p>\n

\"SheaShea Charles celebrates goal against Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Southampton continued to take the game to Arsenal, and Scienza should have scored in the 18th minute.<\/p>\n

Gabriel mistimed a jump and ended up flicking a long ball for the Brazilian winger to race in behind, only to take a touch around Kepa Arrizabalaga<\/a> rather than shoot as Cristhian Mosquera<\/a> got back to deny him.<\/p>\n

That scare shook Arsenal into life. Martin \u00d8degaard<\/a> was denied from 20 yards by Daniel Peretz<\/a> and then scuffed an effort wide, with Dowman and Kai Havertz<\/a> next to have chances as the Gunners turned the screw.<\/p>\n

But just as Saints began to wobble, \u00d8degaard’s backheel deep in opposition territory was picked up by Scienza, who cut across the field and played on to James Bree<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The right back was allowed an inordinate amount of time to advance and clip a cross to the far post, which Ben White<\/a> misjudged and Stewart brought down before rifling home.<\/p>\n

The 35th-minute goal sparked bedlam around St Mary’s and stunned Arsenal, who offered precious little by way of response before the break.<\/p>\n

Ryan Manning<\/a> charged down a Dowman drive when play resumed, but Saints were offering a threat on the break and some of their crosses were causing problems.<\/p>\n

Arsenal also proved capable of causing issues for themselves, including a loose Mosquera pass which led to Tom Fellows<\/a> lashing over.<\/p>\n

Southampton soon went closer still, with Scienza cutting on to his right just inside the box and bending a wonderful effort that struck the crossbar.<\/p>\n

Arteta had made a triple change just before that effort and one of those introduced leveled in the 68th minute.<\/p>\n

Gabriel exceptionally slipped through Havertz, who took a touch before pulling back for Gy\u00f6keres to level with a sharp finish.<\/p>\n

Arsenal were forced into a change as Gabriel limped off to be replaced by William Saliba<\/a>, with the hosts sinking deeper as the clock wound down.<\/p>\n

Peretz did well to stop Dowman curling home, and Martinelli drove wide as a late winner became more likely.<\/p>\n

Few expected the Championship side to land the knockout blow, yet Saints managed to squeeze the ball through to Charles in the 85th minute, and the substitute struck home coolly.<\/p>\n

It was a jaw-dropping moment followed by some late jitters. Noni Madueke<\/a> and Riccardo Calafiori<\/a> tried to level, but Arsenal fell short.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Super substitute\u00a0Shea Charles fired Southampton to Wembley as Tonda Eckert’s Championship side stunned Premier League leaders Arsenal in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-586156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}