Southampton beat Arsenal 2-1 in the FA Cup quarter-finals at St Mary's on Saturday, advancing to the semi-finals for the 14th time in the club's history. Substitute Shea Charles scored the winning goal in the 85th minute to send the Championship side through to a Wembley semi-final.

Ross Stewart opened the scoring for Southampton in the first half before Viktor Gyokeres equalised for Arsenal. Charles, who came off the bench, struck late to complete the victory for the hosts.

"It's a big night for us. We knew we had to dig deep in some moments. Over the 90 minutes it was very well deserved." Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert said.

Charles described his winning goal. "We did OK, but to score was just special. I thought 'just try and place it in the corner,'" the Southampton midfielder said.

Southampton attacking midfielder Leo Scienza acknowledged the difficulty of facing Arsenal. "Arsenal are the best team in England and one of the best teams in the world right now, so it's difficult to stop the quality they have, but we did very well." he said. "There are no words to describe how much we fought today. It was not luck, we fought so hard and we deserved it."

Southampton will be the only non-Premier League team in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley. Manchester City and Chelsea will also be in the last four.

The result comes as Southampton sit seventh in the Championship, one point behind sixth-placed Wrexham. The club will face Wrexham in an away Championship match on Tuesday before their Wembley semi-final.

Eckert was promoted from the club's under-21 coach to first-team manager after Southampton sacked Will Still in November, when the team was 21st in the Championship. The club was relegated from the Premier League in the 2024-25 season with 12 points, the second-lowest total since the top flight was rebranded as the Premier League in the early 1990s.