Sunday’s briefing: Arsenal’s cup woes continue as Saints march on to Wembley

Southampton caused the latest huge FA Cup shock of the season by beating Arsenal in the quarter-finals.

Manchester City thumped Liverpool at the Etihad, while Chelsea ended Port Vale’s memorable run in brutal fashion.

Rangers moved to the summit of the William Hill Premiership with victory over Dundee United.

Saints go marching on

Super sub Shea Charles fired Southampton to Wembley as Tonda Eckert’s Championship side stunned Premier League leaders Arsenal in a famous FA Cup quarter-final victory.

Mikel Arteta’s injury-disrupted Gunners arrived at St Mary’s as overwhelming favourites a fortnight on from their galling Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City.

However, their treble ​tilt ended on the south coast after Charles secured a late 2-1 victory as Southampton bounced back from Viktor Gyokeres cancelling out Ross Stewart’s first-half opener.

A semi-final at Wembley awaits later this month for the Championship play-off hopefuls, who are dreaming of replicating Lawrie McMenemy’s second-tier Saints winning the FA Cup in 1976.

Haaland hat-trick hero

Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick as Manchester City thrashed Liverpool 4-0 to power into the FA Cup semi-finals for a record-extending eighth successive season.

Antoine Semenyo was also on target as City maintained their bid for a second domestic treble with a commanding display at the Etihad Stadium.

It was another dismal afternoon in an underwhelming season for Liverpool and their frustration was compounded when Mohamed Salah was denied from the penalty spot by James Trafford.

Reds boss Arne Slot said: “The result speaks for itself. It’s unbelievably disappointing. Losing is already disappointing but 4-0 in a quarter-final of the FA Cup against a team Liverpool played so many times against, of course it’s a big disappointment.

“The 20 minutes where we conceded four goals were not of our standard.”

Chelsea hit Vale for seven

Chelsea ended another difficult week in their turbulent season on a high by reaching the FA Cup semi-finals with a 7-0 win over Port Vale which eased the pressure on Liam Rosenior.

The head coach sent out a near full-strength XI against the League One strugglers with the notable exception of Enzo Fernandez, suspended internally over his flirtations with Real Madrid but present at Stamford Bridge to see his team book their place at Wembley.

Jorrel Hato and Joao Pedro scored in the first half while Cole Palmer forced an own goal from Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel to make it three by the break.

Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos and Estevao added three more in the second half before Alejandro Garnacho converted a stoppage-time penalty.

Rosenior said of Fernandez: “Enzo and I are in a very good place. I saw him today, had a really good conversation with him today one-to-one. Things aren’t what people maybe think they are.”

Rangers hit top spot

Danny Rohl told his Rangers players to stay “on the front foot” in the William Hill Premiership run-in after a 4-2 win over Dundee United took the Gers top for the first time in over two years.

Goals from Ryan Naderi, Dujon Sterling, Thelo Aasgaard and substitute Bojan Miovski proved too much in the end for the visitors, who notched through Amar Fatah and Zac Sapsford.

The Light Blues were 13 points behind Hearts when Rohl took over as boss in October, but they lead the Jambos on goal difference with six fixtures remaining – albeit having played a game more.

Rohl said: “I was really surprised that this is the first time we’ve been top in two years. But the most important thing is that we still have the right mindset.

“Even now we are top, we have to stay as the hunter. We have to be on the front foot and, if we win six games, then we will have something at the end of the season.”

What’s on today?

The FA Cup quarter-finals conclude with Premier League strugglers West Ham and Leeds doing battle in east London.

Hearts can climb back to the summit in Scotland when they travel to Livingston, while Dundee host Celtic.

Arsenal host Brighton in the quarter-finals of the Women’s FA Cup and Liverpool travel to second-tier Charlton.