In this season, when the main goal is, of course, to secure promotion back to the Premier League, an FA Cup quarter-final was not really on the bingo card. There has been much talk this season about getting back to the Premier League and, subsequently, much discussion about what we like about the Championship and what we dislike about the Premier League. One of the things we dislike about the Premier League is, of course, the huge clubs and the fan bases that come with them. Today we play Arsenal, which embodies everything we can dislike about the Premier League all wrapped up in one package: horrible fan base—check, a questionable manager—check, and more money than sense—check. On top of that, they are going to win the Premier League this year barring a colossal disaster at the end of the season.

What is strange about Arsenal this year is that they haven’t won it for many years. Usually, football fans, in general, would hope they win the title instead of Manchester City, who seem to win it virtually every year. For some reason, though, no one outside of Arsenal’s fan base wants them to win it. They won’t care, of course, but it points to the fact that they and Mikel Arteta, in particular, are quite unlikable.

To their credit, they seem to have found a new way to bamboozle referees and VAR this season, which is essentially to commit as many fouls in the six-yard box as possible whenever a corner is perfectly fizzed across the box by Declan Rice. The logic seems to be that the sheer amount of offences, combined with the fact that it happens at every single corner, means that referees and VAR just can’t be bothered to get involved because they all want to go home at some point.

Teamwise, we have no idea what team Arsenal will put out this week, as they have been pulling players out of international duty left, right, and centre. Eleven at the last count – it’s not even subtle. No doubt all eleven won’t be available this weekend – my arse. With a Champions League game against Sporting Lisbon coming up on Tuesday, I would anticipate them fielding a largely second-string side. However, when you write down the names of those who are likely to be involved, it’s still a good enough team to finish comfortably in the top half of the Premier League and probably challenge for a Champions League spot. My rough guess for their line-up is as follows: Kepa, White, Mosquera, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Eze, Norgaard, Havertz, Martinelli, Madueke, Jesus.

Our side is, of course, going to be changed out of necessity. We too have a vital game on Tuesday night, away at Wrexham, but we also have suspensions with both Flynn Downes and Kuryu Matsuki unavailable for this game. I believe we will take this match seriously, as we are on the long unbeaten run, and also because the 50th anniversary of the FA Cup win in 1976 seems to carry more weight than I ever thought it would. As I mentioned in previous rounds, we have done enough already to pay respects to the 50th anniversary, and potentially getting defeated by the team that’s currently top of the Premier League would not detract from that.

Can we pull anything from history? Not many will remember the last time we played Arsenal in the FA Cup because no one was there. St Mary’s in 2021 saw Saints win 1-0 with an own goal by Gabriel putting us through. That year we got to the semi-final before not turning up against Leicester in front of a crowd of 4000. Covid football was shit.

Last time v Arsenal in front of a crowd was in 2018 at home in the 4th Round and Claude Puel made ten changes and Arsenal’s second string battered us 5-0 in what was a massive waste of time and money for everyone who paid to go and watch. Theo Walcott scored more goals in that game than he did in his entire return to us a couple of years after.

Before that it was 2003, which was of course the year of the Final in Cardiff, which was a brilliant day in all but the result as we lost 1-0 to a Robert Pires goal. Claus hitching a ride on Thierry’s shirt was an early highlight but though we kept it relatively tight after that early scare, we didn’t do enough to warrant winning it. A late shot from Brett Ormerod that saw Seaman produce a decent save was kind of it. What I remember though is the wall of yellow and the fact that there were more Saints fans than Arsenal fans in the ground when the trophy got presented, such was the entitlement of Arsenal fans back then.

With regards to today I keep thinking about “what if?” What if we can somehow pull off a surprise today and get to a Wembley semi-final? Wouldn’t that be something this year of all years? As a bonus – Wouldn’t it be amusing that Arsenal and Arteta would be lambasted as bottle jobs, especially after their Carabao Cup Final defeat the other week. Wouldn’t it be amusing to watch the performative over-reaction of Arsenal fans all over the internet. Oh, and Piers Morgan. The most likely outcome of course is that we narrowly get beat but if we do… who cares? If the game goes south at any point then I would fully support taking players off and resting them for Tuesday, but as we stand before the game, let’s fucking go for it.

Team news and it should be more interesting than usual both from our point of view and theirs. Woody in for Captain Jack, Jander and Bragg in midfield with Ross up front. There’s also a pleasant surprise with Leo Scienza starting. Arteta has mixed and matched a bit which is not surprising given his Champions League commitments and international pull outs. Kepa in goal and the likes of Mosquera, Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard, Dowman and Gabriel Jesus who don’t get many minutes in the league. There are some big hitters on the bench like Gyokeres, Saliba, Calafiori and Raya.

The atmosphere is pretty electric as the game starts with Arsenal as you expect, dominating the ball for the opening couple of minutes. Our first attack sees Fellows given the ball and he enthusiastically runs towards the Arsenal penalty area where he is confronted by Gabriel, who wins the ball and celebrates by giving it the big one in Fellow’s face, like he’s just stopped Brazilian Ronaldo in his prime. A bit strange for the first minute of an FA Cup game against the Championship side, but there you go. Our next attack sees us break up play on the edge of our box and the ball finding its way to Finn Azaz, who sends Scienza away on the left in acres of space. With his marker Ben White nowhere to be seen, he burrows into the penalty area and squares up Gabriel, the challenge comes in and down he goes. Referee Sam Barrott is not interested. Raging. That looks absolutely clear on first viewing because Gabriel made a move towards him with his leg, but I guess we’ll just have to trust the experienced Premier League official on that one.

Saints have of course been good defensively recently, but this is going to take a major test today, particularly in the full-back areas. 16-year-old Dowman has already given Manning problems and now it’s Martinelli‘s turn to test out James Bree after a ball over the top finds him, but Bree passes the first test by throwing himself in the way and the ball and off for a corner. With us all expecting the usual Arsenal WWE corner wrestling routine, Odegaard plays it short and they play across the top of the box to Martinelli, whose effort is headed away for another corner by THB. Another short corner, survived.

Saints are not taking any chances with getting caught in possession and Peretz goes long up towards Stewart and the big Scotsman doesn’t win it because he doesn’t have to because Gabriel obligingly flicks it on for him and puts Scienza clean through again. Leo again makes that run towards the penalty spot and sits the goalkeeper down but Mosquera gets back to run him off the ball before he can roll it into the net. Big Chance missed and it was almost as if he didn’t realise he was there. One touch too many. That is I think our third big break where we haven’t even got a shot on goal at the end of it.

Arsenal’s main threat is coming from 16-year-old Max Dowman on the right wing, but after initially struggling, Ryan Manning is now getting closer to him and causing him to think a little bit more. He certainly makes him think the old-fashioned way, when Dowman tries runs past him again and Manning absolutely levels him for the first yellow card of the game. No argument as completely deserved. Elsewhere, Odegaard is trying to make things happen from midfield and finds himself on the edge of the box with time to wind up a shot which Peretz beats away easily enough. We don’t ever fully get the ball away and Arsenal rebuild again down the left through Martinelli who pulls the ball back to Odegaard on the penalty spot and it’s a free shot and fuck, here we go…. but luckily he kicks it into his standing foot and it loops harmlessly wide. Ahhh!

Games against the big boys are always the same in that you look at ten minute slots and see if you can stay in the game without conceding. We have now negotiated three of those slots and that’s the half hour mark comes up. Jesus has a go from the edge of the box which deflects off of Wood and loops wider the far post. Another corner survived, made easier by the fact that neither of their regular corner takers, Rice and Saka, are there to whip perfect corners into the WWE Royal Rumble.

More Arsenal pressure down our left and Odegaard tries to backheel it to Dowman but instead of that he presents it to Scienza, who sets off upfield before knocking the ball square to James Bree who carries it unchallenged to the edge of the box before floating across towards Stewart at the back post. Ben White is underneath it though so no danger but the recently recalled England full-back, recalled because his defending is better than Trent Alexander-Arnold’s, lets the ball float over his head and Ross brings it down on his chest and drills it past Kepa and St Mary’s goes mental. Get the fuck in there.

They expected Arsenal onslaught before half time doesn’t really materialise are the only real incident is Scienza skinning Ben White again who then commits a couple more fouls without getting booked. Both he and Norgaard seem to be completely invisible to the referee, wearing the Ngolo Kante Cloak of Invisibility.

Half time and that’s been absolutely perfect so far – we are mixing play superbly between long ball and short passing, but it’s notable that when we try and pass the ball out, we are not going forward and then going backwards that often and if there’s a ball to be played, then we are playing it, clearly target in the full-back areas where Arsenal are relatively weak. The fact that we are maintaining a goal threat even when we haven’t got the ball often, is enough to put doubt in the mind of the Arsenal players. This has been great so far – even if we get rolled over int he second half when they bring their subs on, we’ve given this a right go.

The second half starts with no changes and Arsenal are immediately sloppy, with Mosquera passing it straight across the pitch to Fellows, who runs at Gabriel before smashing it from the edge of the box. You know he’s going to miss of course and it probably would’ve gone over anyway, but Kepa gets a touch on it to make sure and Sam Barrott gives a goal kick for fuck‘s sake.

We are keeping with the same game plan is the first half unsurprisingly, with Peretz firing the ball long, and then Saints competing and winning the ball through Jander and Scienza getting away again on the left. He sends White off to go and run an errand and into the penalty area before going for the post and it’s on its way, over the keeper, and bouncing off the top of the crossbar and over. Fuck.

It’s substitution time and Arteta is clearly going to strengthen his team. He’s had enough time to think about it whilst he’s been bouncing around outside the technical area. I do wonder what the fucking hell the fourth official is doing if he’s not keeping the managers in check, but there you go. Anyway, come the hour mark and on come Calafiori, Madueke and Gyokeres, in place of Lewis-Skelly and Gabriel Jesus, who have both been shite, and Martin Odegaard who is returning from injury and probably only scheduled to play an hour anyway.

Predictably, Arsenal now look stronger with Bragg getting robbed in midfield which caused all sorts of carnage until we get a foot on it on the edge of the box and boot it up to halfway. Back it comes and an unpressured Gabriel, slides the ball in between Fellows and Bragg and puts Havertz through on goal and he does what good players do and pulls it back for Gyokeres to knock into an empty net. Fuck off. He might be known as Mediokeres but he’s much better than Jesus.

It’s Tonda’s turn to roll the dice from the bench and over the next five minutes we bring on Edozie and Larin for Scienza and Stewart and then Shea Charles for Cam Bragg. Arteta is sensing that he needs more and Zubimendi is on for Havertz and he has to make one change through injury as Gabriel is replaced with Saliba. I wonder if Gabriel roared in anyone’s face as he hobbled off. Dick.

Dowman has quietened down a little bit but he’s still dangerous even though he’s been switched infield with Madueke coming on. Arsenal build up on the edge of our penalty area before Dowman goes for the far post and it’s a decent effort but Peretz gets across well to push it wide. From the corner, it’s another short one but they do work it beautifully to give Martinelli a free shot from the edge of the penalty area and… he drags it wide, because he’s shit. However, you have to acknowledge that was a brilliant corner routine and one that we should definitely try and copy in the near future.

Peretz takes the resulting goal kick up to half way, where Charles gets up and flicks it on to Big Cyle. He holds off Mosquera before popping it back to Charles who advances a yard before flicking it forward for Azaz to toe-end it on to Fellows, who it takes a glorious touch inside Calafiori and gets to the edge of the box before squaring it to Charles who has continued his run and he takes a touch and passes it into the far corner of the net. Absolutely fucking ridiculous scenes as Shea runs off to the corner, complete with shit knee slide that doesn’t go anywhere. Get the fuck in there. How long to go… 5 plus extras.

What have Arsenal got? Not a lot to be honest and we get to 90 minutes and the dreaded board goes up and 6 to be added, which is kind of standard and what I expected. Arsenal buy a free kick on the edge of the box and Martinelli wants to take it quickly and produces a two handed shove on the referee. What is even more extraordinary than the shove itself is that he only gets booked for it and it’s remarkable that with Ben White and Norgaard’s persistent fouls during the game, the only way Arsenal could get a player booked is by pushing a referee, and that of course should’ve been a red.

The free-kick itself is in a dangerous position and Arsenal take fucking ages with Madueke and Gyokeres dreaming up something but what has dreamt up is an absolute dogshit of a free kick into the wall at knee height. You wasted all that time for that?

Yellows! Yellows! Yellows!

Regardless, these minutes are taking hours. Gyokeres puts Martinelli away down the left and he gets to the edge of the box before adding a footnote to the story of the shit game that he’s had so far by getting the shot all wrong and passing it straight to Peretz. Madueke has the next half chance and optimistically goes from distance and lashes it over the bar and then Calafiori does the same from 25 yards out and they’re getting a little bit desperate. Arteta is bouncing around and he’s so far from the technical area he’s practically in Ocean Village.

Even at this late stage of the game, Saints are still providing a goal threat with Edozie and Larin combining before the big man holds it up brilliantly to play it to Fellows and he once again pisses past Calafiori and hammers in another shot, which more obviously this time, Kepa tips over the bar.

Manning can no longer move and he’s replaced with big Josh Q as we reached the 97th minute and of course, there time for another Arsenal attack and Woody gets himself in the way of Gyokeres and shields the ball out of play. His celebration with the crowd mimics Gabriel from the start of the game but there’s slightly more point to it now. 97 and we are still playing. Fuck off referee. Gyokeres on the left puts the ball into the box where it’s hacked clear in the ref blows his whistle. .

Yassssssss!. Fucking get in there. What an absolutely amazing performance and atmosphere here at St Mary’s this evening. Fucking incredible. Que Sera Sera pumps out of the PA to remind us all that we are off to Wembley. Thoughts turn to the Wembley seating plan and the cost of tickets but that’s for another day. Scenes on the pitch. Fantastic stuff.

Make no mistake, we totally deserved to win that game and were the more threatening side throughout. Of course Arsenal had much of the possession but they really didn’t do much with it. I remember one decent safe from Peretz, from Dowman’s effort but other than that, they didn’t really threaten, held at bay by a superb defensive performance in which everyone contributed. We basically defended in a 4-4-2 formation with Fellows and Scienza being very disciplined defensively on the wings and both helping out Bree and Manning respectively. Manning seem to struggle for the first 15 minutes but then really grew into the task and the only shame that his totally deserved booking for flattening Dowman will rule him out of the semi-final. THB and Woody in the centre were excellent and meant that Gabriel Jesus hardly had a kick and since the day he arrived, I have never thought James Bree was capable of this level of performance, let alone on the consistent basis he is showing right now. Though not having not very much of the ball, we stayed pretty compact with some real dogged work by Jander and Bragg in the centre of midfield

It was Bree who started the ball rolling with the cross for the first goal. It had wound me up up until that point because we had three or four good breaks that it all ended with us not getting a shot in. Leo chopped down/diving for the penalty,, Azaz passing up a chance to shoot from the end of the box and then Leo getting tackled by Mosquera when clean through. You always know that when he gets into the opposition half, that Bree is looking for a cross or a shot but I thought he’d undercooked the cross until Ben White obligingly decided to get under it and miss it and once Stewart controlled it he was never going to miss.

The substitution zone around the hour mark was always going to be interesting because Arsenal we’re going to bring on three or four Champions League players because they were behind, which is what they did and of course Gyokeres pulled one back when for once, we dozed off a little bit and didn’t track a runner. Arsenal’s subs caused is a problem, with Calafiori proving difficult to pick up as he drifted across from left back into the centre of midfield. At 1-1, I expected Arsenal to score again and we would exit the cup with our head held high haven’t given them a decent game, but none of it.

Tonda had some subs to use as well and and one of ours was Shea Charles, who was involved three times in what turned out to be the winning goal, winning the initial flick, picking it back up off of Cyle Larin and then receiving Fellows short pass before passing it in off the post. Another brilliant goal.

There was some great performances by the attackers as well. Ross Stewart led the line brilliantly until he was substituted and totally deserved his goal. Considering that was CN’s first game for nearly a month, he was electric as well and unlucky not to score. Tom Fellows is quietly playing his way back into form and the assist today will have done him no end of good. The goal hasn’t come yet of course, but it will, probably. For me though, Finn Azaz was absolutely brilliant and showed that in the event of us getting promoted, he will certainly be able to hold his own in the Premier League if he can replicate that level of performance on a consistent basis.

This might sound like a wild shout, but I reckon after performances like that against the team like Arsenal in front of the global audience there’s a few of our players who won’t have done themselves any harm with regards to getting a place in various World Cup squads for the summer. It made me smile seeing Ross Stewart doing post match interviews in the broadest Scottish accent possible. and he should certainly be on Steve Clarke‘s radar, bearing in mind how much they struggle to score goals with the shit forwards they have. It might be a bit soon for Cameron Bragg but he will have caught the eye as well. Carlo Ancellotti of course of manager of Brazil now, but if he watched that the game then he would’ve seen two Brazilian left-wingers in action, one who plays regularly for the national team and one who never has. Guess which one impressed out of the two. I would say however that Vinicius Junior has got the starting left-winger spot nailed down as much as is humanly possible but if I had a choice between Scienza and Martinelli, I know who I’d want and it wouldn’t be the one who shoves referees.

Arteta, despite being a twat during the game and spending more time outside the technical area than in it, was pretty decent in his post-match interview, basically blaming Arsenal’s own shortcomings for not winning the game and saying that Saints executed their game plan well. It’s a game plan, of course that was devised by Tonda Eckert who gave his usual enigmatic responses to questions, giving the impression that he would rather not be answering questions but would rather be thinking about how we’re going to beat Wrexham on Tuesday night. No danger of anyone getting carried away with this guy here.

Talking of carried away – the fans today were fucking amazing, making it an amazing effort by everyone – management, players and fans. Such a proud day for the football club, everyone associated with it and the city itself. I am congratulating myself on making the best decision ever, which was to stand on the Northam for this game, instead of taking up my usual seat in the Itchen/Chapel corner. What a decision by the big man. For me, the atmosphere in there today beats the West Brom playoff semi-final as the Spirit of ’76 came very much to the fore. We were always favourites to win that game, whereas in this one I don’t think any fan gave us much of a prayer. Regardless, 97 minutes of singing and proper support from the Northam and an absolute privilege to be amongst it. We certainly do big games well. We do however need to up our game in Championship games. Fans will respond if you give them something and the club have been doing that over the last fifteen games, so we need to do our bit, especially at St Mary’s.

You don’t get many days like this as a fan of a Championship club, but it’s another trip to Wembley. Apparently, we’ve had more trips to Wembley recently than any club outside of the really big boys. It’s very sweet to be beating Arsenal as well. Regardless of Arteta and everything else that makes them hard to admire, there’s the online fanbase who are definitely containing the highest proportion of bellends. AFTV has a lot to answer for but it’s going to be glorious to tune in to Arsenal social media and drink in the real-time meltdown.

Sunday night and here’s the draw…. Chelsea against Leeds United…. that sinking feeling before it’s spelt out… Manchester City versus Southampton. They might have Guardiola but as the song goes we’ve got Eckert, Tonda Eckert…

Yellooooooooooows!!!!

Up the fucking 50th Anniversary Saints!!!