Mark Hughes is considering making a raft of changes to his Saints side for the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea.

While Chelsea boss Antonio Conte was able to prioritise the Cup and change his side for their league match against Burnley on Thursday night, Hughes named an unchanged side as Saints drew 0-0 at Leicester five days after being beaten by the Blues in the top flight.

There are now just two clear days for Saints to recover before Sunday’s showpiece at Wembley, and with the vital home match against Bournemouth less than a week later Hughes is thinking of giving a few other players a chance to show what they can do.

He said: “Our circumstances are a little bit different to Chelsea.

“I wasn’t able to make wholesale changes to the line-up because of the importance of the fixture and Chelsea were able to freshen it up and the guys that missed out will come into Antonio’s thinking.

“We have other players that can come in and can freshen up our group and we will see where that takes us and if we see something that can help us against Bournemouth we can take that forward too.”

Hughes admitted that Premier League survival remains the main focus for Saints but believes the players will realise they have an opportunity to make history on Sunday.

“If I’m honest it always will be but the day itself is something we can enjoy,” he admitted.

“We have to make the most of this opportunity and it’s not every day you get the chance to get to an FA Cup final.

“It’s the greatest Cup competition in the world in my view.

“Some people say it’s been diminished with the Champions League and Premier League but as a player major cup finals is where you make your mark.

“We go into it thinking it’s not an opportunity you want to let pass by.”