Southampton vs Arsenal - FA Cup RECAP: All the reaction as the Premier League leaders crash OUT after shock defeat by Championship side as Treble dream ends on chastening night for Mikel Arteta

The clock strikes midnight and I'm officially off for Easter.

Thanks for following along this evening. We witnessed the cracks spread further in Arsenal's golden run-in. Or did we? Let's see how they respond on Tuesday in Lisbon.

Have a good night all!

You have to take Southampton seriously in the FA Cup now. As potential winners, that is.

Sure, they're the big outsiders. But if you knock out Arsenal, whether home or away, on the back of beating Fulham at Craven Cottage, then you have to be considered contenders.

If they draw Leeds or West Ham at home in the next round, you'd almost consider them favourites, given the contrasting form they're in. Tonda Eckert has won 19 of his 30 games in charge of Saints and both of his clashes with Premier League clubs.

Obviously, doing it twice again will be a challenge, and Manchester City or Chelsea (or both!) would be a huge test.

But are we looking at possible FA Cup winners? Yes, yes we are. The last time a second-tier team won it was in 1980, when West Ham beat Aston Villa in the final.

Eleven Arsenal players withdrew from international duty with knocks and fatigue.

Those are: Martin Odegaard (Norway), Leandro Trossard (Belgium), William Saliba (France), Gabriel (Brazil), Jurrien Timber (Netherlands), Eberechi Eze (England), Declan Rice (England), Bukayo Saka (England), Noni Madueke (England), Piero Hincapie (Ecuador), and Martin Zubimendi (Spain).

Five of those played tonight: Odegaard and Gabriel started, while Saliba, Madueke, and Zubimendi came on.

But the rest doesn't seem to have done them much good. Whatever they've done over the international break, it hasn't particularly paid off, because they've fallen at the first hurdle after it.

Football journalist Henry Winter believes Max Dowman showed superior 'hunger' to most of his team-mates tonight.

He wrote: 'Max Dowman turned up. Few of his team-mates did. Dowman kept taking responsibility, kept taking the knocks and kept going, trying to drag Arsenal back into the tie against spirited Saints. Arsenal needed more players to show the 16-year-old’s hunger.'

I think that's a bit harsh. Arsenal had 24 shots and 64 per cent of the ball. They committed more fouls than their opponents. They did turn up and perform, they did get nasty when they needed to. Southampton were aggrieved to not have a penalty. The hunger wasn't lacking in my opinion.

The thing that proved their undoing was silly mistakes. Way too many of those, particularly at the back. Maybe that happens on a windy night, but it didn't happen anywhere near as much to Southampton. I do think this result was something of a blip and not necessarily indicative of a wider malaise.

Mikel Arteta did his best to remain upbeat after the match. He talked about the team approaching 'the most beautiful part of the season'.

He has worked hard at his messaging and it has paid off so far. He has stayed calm this season in the face of setbacks and says he is confident being knocked out of both domestic cup competitions will not bleed uncertainty into the pursuit of a first Premier League title for 22 years.

It doesn't get more withering than this.

Southampton have absolutely had this Arsenal fan on X. Made him look like a right fool.

He will, of course, be entitled to reply gloating about Premier League and/or Champions League glory if they get over the line. 'Enjoy another season in the Championship,' or something like that.

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