FULL TIME: 2-3: FA FINALLY overturned Arsenal disallowed goals as PGMOL Spotted two Huge errors in the game,Referee in action finally apologized as Arsenal progressed to the semi final stage
SAINTS took the lead twice as they dumped Premier League leaders Arsenal out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 win to book a place in the semi-finals.
Ross Stewart scored the opening goal after 35 minutes before substitute Viktor Gyokeres levelled for the Gunners midway through the second half.
But Saints had a trick from the bench of their own as Shea Charles slotted in the winner five minutes from time to record a famous St Mary’s victory.
Saints wore their commemorative yellow, celebrating 50 years since their FA Cup win in 1976. It was also a repeat of the 2003 final, which Arsenal won 1-0.
And Saints deservedly reached the last four of the competition for the third time in less than 10 years, after doing so in both 2018 and 2021.
Ahead of the match, Saints head coach Tonda Eckert had been adamant that he expected his side to win, despite facing the Premier League leaders.
It is that mentality that has led Saints to a 14-game unbeaten run, while Arsenal’s only loss since mid-January was to Man City in the Carabao Cup final.
Eckert made five changes from his team that beat Oxford United 2-0 in the Championship two weeks ago, with Leo Scienza returning from injury.
He started, as did Nathan Wood, Caspar Jander, Cam Bragg and Ross Stewart. Jack Stephens missed out with an ankle injury sustained in training.
Mikel Arteta named his usual cup team, but bolstered it with the return of Gabriel Magalhães, who pulled out of international duty, and Martin Odegaard.
That meant a start for 16 year old England youth sensation Max Dowman, whose trickery had Ryan Manning booked fairly early on in the contest.
The club did well to build an intense atmosphere ahead of kick-off, with the help of the inimitable Mark Dennis, and Saints made a fast start.
They attacked early through Tom Fellows and Scienza, but the imperious Gabriel stopped both, with VAR dismissing Scienza’s soft appeals for a penalty.
Saints survived four corners from England’s most dangerous set-piece team, in equal parts through a Taylor Harwood-Bellis block and sheer luck.
Arsenal started to assert themselves and held nearly 70 per cent of the ball, but all of their efforts seemed to whistle past Daniel Peretz’s post.
Scienza should have done better when he fortuitously went through on goal, but he tried to round the keeper and Christhian Mosquera tackled him.
But the Brazilian was involved in the build-up when Saints took a shock lead after 35 minutes, with another effective counter-attack undoing the Gunners.
James Bree lofted an angled cross from the edge of the area, and it was missed by Ben White for Stewart to touch down and drive low into the corner.
Arteta called for the cavalry 15 minutes into the second half, bringing on £140million worth of players in Gyokeres, Noni Madueke and Ricardo Califiori.
The changes came just as Fellows blazed over the bar after latching onto Mosquera’s wayward pass, before Scienza curled a shot onto the crossbar.
But it was Arsenal’s big Swede, Gyokeres, to pull his side level with a tap-in after Kai Havertz ran off Bragg in the channels and squared across the box.
There were still 22 minutes of regulation time to go, and a big response was required. Eckert had made three substitutions of his own not long after.
Peretz produced a diving save to deny Dowman and set the stage for another famous winning goal from substitute Charles with just five minutes to play.
Finn Azaz put in the work for Fellows to drive in from the right, where Charles picked up possession in the box and prodded the ball into the far corner.
Saints had to survive six minutes of added time, but Madueke and Calafiori fired over with Arsenal’s biggest chances, meaning Wembley awaits.
The semi-finals will be played on the weekend of Saturday, April 25, and Sunday April 26, with the draw to determine the opponent made on Sunday.
Saints : Peretz; Bree, Harwood-Bellis, Wood, Manning (Quarshie, 90); Bragg (Charles, 75), Jander, Fellows, Azaz, Scienza (Edozie, 70); Stewart (Larin, 70).
Unused subs : Long, Romeu, Robinson, Archer, Oyekunle.
Booked : Manning, Jander.
Arsenal : Kepa; White, Mosquera, Gabriel (Saliba, 73), Lewis-Skelly(Calafiori, 60); Norgaard, Odegaard (Madueke, 60), Dowman, Havertz (Zubimendi, 78), Martinelli; Jesus (Gyokeres, 60).
Unused subs : Raya, O’Neill, Salmon, Harriman-Annous.
Booked : Martinelli.
Referee : Sam Barrott.
VAR : James Bell.
