Southampton

Dan George
BBC Sport at St Mary's

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Southampton were superb tonight in a performance that had St Mary's absolutely bouncing at full-time.

This Saints team are more than doing justice to the 50th anniversary celebrations since they last won the FA Cup, and have now booked their place at Wembley for the semi-finals.

Tonda Eckert deserves plenty of praise for the job he has done with this group in what has to be the biggest night and achievement of his short coaching career so far.

They made Arsenal pay and were incredibly sharp in attack, the likes of Tom Fellows, Leo Scienza and Finn Azaz had brilliant games, causing the Arsenal defence all kinds of problems from early on.

The pace of their wide players seemed to catch the Arsenal defence out as they sprung forward, threatening on the counter-attack numerous times.

Even when the visitors managed to find an equaliser in the second half, they stayed calm and rallied again before finding a late winner.

When the full-time whistle blew the home fans descended into scenes of song and dance, embracing and jumping for joy to mark what will be remembered as a famous night for the club.

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Southampton boss Tonda Eckert believes his side have found a couple of areas where they can "hurt" Arsenal as they look to cause an upset in their FA Cup quarter-final.

Mikel Arteta's Premier League leaders will be looking to keep their Treble hopes alive at St Mary's on Saturday night, but it will be the first time the team have been in action since their Carabao Cup final loss to Manchester City two weeks ago.

A Champions League quarter-final at Sporting and Premier League clash with Bournemouth quickly follow the trip to Southampton, where the Gunners are favourites to progress despite their injury concerns after 11 players withdrew from international duty during the break.

Arsenal have only lost four matches this season but Championship play-off hopefuls Southampton are also in a rich vein of form, having gone 14 unbeaten in all competition and winning 1-0 at Fulham in the previous round.

"It is a great team," Saints boss Eckert said. "I think rightfully every single manager in a press conference praises what Arsenal does and I can only continue that praise.

"It's a fantastic team with many, many answers to problems that you give them, so the preparation was fun this week because there's many more iterations of what you could potentially do.

"You see that they do have answers to many possible solutions, but I think we have found a couple of bits where we are able to hurt them and we just need to make sure we bring that on the pitch."

Listen to the latest episode of Saints Social from BBC Radio Solent.

Jono Holmes and Lewis Coombes are joined by Southampton legend Rickie Lambert to reflect on the Saints legends match against Manchester United, and to look forward to Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final against Arsenal.

There is also a top 10 countdown of the best Rickie Lambert and Matt Le Tissier Saints goals.

Click here to find more Southampton content on BBC Sounds.

Glen de la Cour
Southampton FC fan writer

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I was seven years old in 1976 when Southampton won, what is still, our only major honour with an FA Cup win.

That was courtesy of a Bobby Stokes goal against Manchester United, when the whole of my part of the world turned yellow and blue.

Back then, like now, we were a second division club and this is, of course, the 50th anniversary of that win.

The distance between the top two divisions is much bigger than it was in 1976, so to get to a Wembley semi-final (let's not think about the final just yet) in this anniversary year, would be absolutely huge, both for nostalgic reasons but also for the momentum it would give us for the Championship games to come.

Saints have rightly been commemorating the 50th anniversary this year, playing in yellow in every round (including Saturday I assume), so it was probably more important than usual to have a good cup run when we started back in January.

Doncaster away in the third round was negotiated more comfortably than the 3-2 final score suggests, before a 2-1 home win against Leicester after extra time.

At this point, I thought we had at least done justice to the 50th anniversary but then came a very impressive 1-0 away win at Fulham in the fifth round.

And here we are with Arsenal at home - let's just say that the draw could have been kinder.

At least we're at home against an Arsenal side that will have one eye on the Champions League game they have on Tuesday.

Southampton, of course, have a massive game on Tuesday themselves against play-off rivals Wrexham, and usually I would expect Saints to fully prioritise the league game.

However, with the club being on a 14-game unbeaten run, the 50th anniversary and Tonda Eckert's insistence that we are here to win on Saturday - we will certainly be giving this game a right go.

Should the game start slipping away from us, then I can see thoughts turning towards Wrexham and beyond in the Championship, but until that point the Wembley dream lives on.

Click here to watch more from Glen and the Total Saints Podcast., external

Martin Sanders
Southampton fan writer

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When Daniel Peretz arrived at Southampton during the winter window it was met with a degree of uncertainty due to a lack of recent game time.

There were questions raised whether the 24-year-old would be fully match sharp and if he could adapt quickly to the demands of the Championship.

A few months on, those concerns have been put to rest.

Peretz has grown into an increasingly important figure at St Mary's, producing a series of impressive performances.

His presence has been notable not just for his shot-stopping, but for his organisation and communication attributes that have helped bring a sense of calm to Southampton's defensive unit.

Peretz's impact can be measured both in results and underlying data.

Across his appearances, he has averaged fewer than a goal conceded per game, while recording multiple clean sheets.

His save percentage sits comfortably above 65%, placing him among the more effective goalkeepers in the division over that period.

Perhaps most telling is his performance relative to expected goals on target (xGOT) - a metric used to assess the quality of shots faced.

Peretz has posted a positive "goals prevented" figure, suggesting he has saved more than an average goalkeeper would be expected to from the same chances.

While the numbers are strong, his influence has also been evident in key moments.

In Southampton's win over Coventry City, a crucial save to deny a Liam Kitching header proved pivotal in securing all three points.

Big game goalkeepers win you points and in the run of fixtures leading into the international break, Peretz has played a key role in helping Southampton get important results over the line.

With the season entering its decisive stages, marginal gains can prove crucial.

A goalkeeper capable of delivering in key moments can often be the difference between points gained and points dropped.

In that respect, Peretz has provided Southampton with a dependable presence one whose contributions may yet play a significant role in shaping the outcome of their campaign.

Looking ahead, his performances are also likely to prompt interest. On loan from Bayern Munich, Peretz has now had a taste of regular first-team football and it is difficult to imagine he will want anything less moving forward.

Watch more from Martin by clicking here to view his latest Southampton content., external

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Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.

The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.

Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.

Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.

Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559

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Yeovil Town have signed Southampton forward Will Merry on loan until the end of the season.

The 20-year-old has yet to make a first-team appearance for the Saints, but spent a month on loan at National League side Eastleigh in April 2024, where he played three times.

He has also featured regularly for Southampton's academy side in Premier League Two and played twice in the EFL Trophy for the club's academy side in 2022.

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Southampton boss Tonda Eckert said that he's "ready for a couple of days off" after their win over Oxford United in the Championship.

Cyle Larin struck early before Shea Charles launched a shot into the net from range to secure the three points for his side.

Eckert said that after a congested schedule he is looking forward to the international break.

"We've had a couple of very tough away games and we knew that these two games at home now gave us a chance to finish off not just this week but a block of four months," Eckert told BBC Radio Solent.

"We've been going straight since November and we just knew that we wanted to finish strong on that block.

"It was a big one for us today going two up, but then you need to keep the attention high because you're still on the ball.

"It's never so easy if the rhythm of the game then slows down, but obviously then the spaces are up on a counter and you need to be ready to defend them.

"I think we've done this quite well over big spells, obviously there's always a couple of moments that we can improve on, but overall yes it's another clean sheet and I'm so happy about today and ready for a couple of days off."