New Delhi, April 5 (IANS) Shea Charles’ late winner sent Southampton into the FA Cup semi-finals at Arsenal’s expense as the Championship side stunned the Premier League leaders and 14-time champions.
Ross Stewart struck the opener 10 minutes before half time at the end of another slick counter after Leo Scienza had been guilty of taking too long to shoot from another promising breakaway.
Scienza hit the crossbar with a curling effort in the second period before Arsenal substitute Viktor Gyokeres levelled the scores just seven minutes after coming on.
But it was another substitute, Shea Charles, who had the final say, side-footing home a superb winning goal five minutes from time, as Saints continued to do justice to the heroes of ’76, 50 years on.
Tonda Eckert made five changes to his side following the 2-0 win over Oxford that propelled Saints into the Championship play-off places ahead of the international break, extending the team’s unbeaten run to 14 matches in all competitions.
Earlier, Erling Haaland’s clinical hat-trick led Manchester City into the semi-finals for the eighth consecutive season as they defeated Liverpool 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
Antoine Semenyo also found the net as last season’s runners-up continued on their mission to go one better this time around with a dominant display, securing their 18th straight home win in this competition.
The result took City beyond Clapham Rovers’ total of 17 straight home wins in the FA Cup between 1873 and 1881. It’s a run that stretches back to February 2017, with their last home defeat coming against Middlesbrough back in January 2015.
The win was also Mak City’s 32nd straight win in the FA Cup outside of matches at Wembley (semi-finals and finals), further highlighting our incredible consistency under Guardiola.
City won the FA Cup seven times in total, including twice under Guardiola, who has won 19 major honours at City.
Elsewhere, Chelsea secured a place in the semi-finals in convincing fashion as the Blues scored seven goals and kept a clean sheet to dispatch Port Vale at Stamford Bridge.
–IANS
bc/