SKIPPER James Ward-Prowse described as a “special feeling” Saints dumping out holders Arsenal and progressing to the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The St Mary’s side sealed a 1-0 victory over the Gunners at St Mary’s.
Kyle Walker-Peters’s low effort clipped defender Gabriel and fell into the net to set up trip to Wolves in the next stage.
It was a second successive victory in the competition for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men, who had overcome Shrewsbury 2-0 with a more youthful looking side in midweek.
Ward-Prowse told the Daily Echo: “It’s been a bit of a strange week, having played in the FA Cup twice in a few days.
“To beat Shrewsbury was a real positive performance, to have so many academy lads, they have played a really important part for us. And to put the holders out is a really special feeling, so looking forward to the next round.”
Boss Hasenhuttl named a much stronger line-up against the Gunners.
And Ward-Prowse believes the club’s top-half position in the Premier League allowed them to attack the cup competition.
He said: “We take every competition seriously and this is a great opportunity to progress well in the cup.
“In recent years we’ve always been in a difficult position with the league and that’s taken a lot of focus.
“But with that being good, I think we can afford to look to the cup a little bit more and take more risks. I think that paid off on Saturday.”
He added: “I think first half we were very dominant and the only thing we lacked was that second goal.
“We won a lot of balls high up the pitch but our decision-making wasn’t quite perfect enough to do it.
“I think in the second half we had to go through a bit of a difficult spell against a good Arsenal team.
“They’re always going to have possession and they’re going to probe and we had to defend. To keep another clean sheet was massively important.”
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