By Ian KingArsenal have a point to prove following their Carabao Cup final defeat, but Southampton are in blistering formFrom a quadruple to a treble, then. Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final ended their hopes of a clean sweep of domestic trophies this season, but with the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup still open to them, they still have a lot to play for. This weekend provides the Gunners with an opportunity to get themselves back on track with a trip to the south coast to play Championship club Southampton in the last eight of the FA Cup, and under normal circumstances this might be considered a straightforward match for them. But Southampton are in outstanding form, unbeaten in all competitions since the middle of January (14 games) and having beaten Premier League opposition in the form of Fulham away from home in the last round of the FA Cup. A slow start to the season left them hovering only just above the relegation places in the Championship by the start of November, but the appointment of Tonda Eckert following the sacking of Will Still has proved transformative, and they’re now in the middle of a race for a play-off place to secure a quick return to the Premier League following their relegation at the end of last season. These two clubs first met each other in an FA Cup semi-final 99 years ago this yearArsenal have the historical advantage in this fixture, with Southampton having only won three of the last seventeen meetings between the two teams. But the last time they met each other in the FA Cup, they did record a win, beating the Gunners 1-0 at St Mary’s in the fourth Round in January 2021. One curious statistic about this game is that, after the two clubs met for the first time in the FA Cup semi-finals 99 years ago this season, they didn’t play each other again at all for another 39 years. Arsenal won that first meeting 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, but then lost the final 1-0 to Cardiff City. Arsenal’s latest starlet may be given the space to shine in this matchUnbeaten in their last 12 consecutive games in the Championship, Southampton have plenty of in-form players at the moment, but one of their star performers throughout this season has been attacking midfielder Finn Azaz. He’s scored ten goals for them this season and created six assists, and was in action for the Republic of Ireland over the international break, featuring in their agonising play-off defeat to Czechia and their friendly against North Macedonia. With a Champions League quarter-final to follow for Arsenal against Sporting on Tuesday night, Mikel Arteta may continue to rest some senior players for this match, and this may allow another opportunity for Max Dowman to prove himself. Dowman scored his first Premier League goal on his last appearance against Everton, but he didn’t get on the pitch in their two matches following that against Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester City, so this might be a good opportunity for the 16-year-old to get some more experience in the first team.Mikel Arteta may choose to rest his best players, with the Champions League and Premier League run-ins to comeOne of the bigger questions of the international break turned out to be that of how many Arsenal players might actually be injured at the moment. In total, 23 players were withdrawn from international squads by Premier League clubs for the last international break and almost half of them – 11, in total – were Arsenal players. With crucial matches in both the Champions League and Premier League coming up, this match is likely to see more players being rested. William Saliba, Gabriel, Eberechi Eze, Martin Ødegaard, Jurrien Timber, Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, Martin Zubimendi and Piero Hincapie were the players withdrawn. It’s entirely plausible that all of these players sit this match out as well. For Southampton, Leo Scienza has been missing for the last three weeks and is doubtful for this match, but Ross Stewart did return for their last match before the break, a 2-0 win against Oxford United. Welington and Jay Robinson have both also been absentees; they returned to training before the Oxford match and could return for this one, though with Southampton also facing a crucial stage in their league season, they could also both be rested for this one.Southampton will provide Arsenal with a stiff challenge, but how seriously will either team take this match? There’s little question that the FA Cup is the junior partner in Arsenal’s pursuit of the treble, and the biggest question facing Mikel Arteta this weekend is how much he can afford to rest players for this leg of it. The Carabao Cup final provided a warning on the risks of dropping established players. The decision to drop David Raya in favour of Kepa Arrizabalaga may have cost his team that match. On top of that, they only squeezed through the Fifth Round of the FA Cup with a narrow 2-1 win away to Mansfield Town. And Southampton have been flying in 2026. They’re unbeaten in their last 14 games in all competitions, with eleven wins and three draws. They also arguably have more important matters at hand than the FA Cup. They currently occupy the final Championship play-off place, but this is only on goal difference above Wrexham, and the target that will really matter to them for the remainder of this season will be trying to secure a return to the Premier League which looked inconceivable just a few months ago. Still though, I expect Arsenal to get through this tie. The gulf between the Premier League remains as big as ever, and much as Arsenal have bigger fish to fry over the remainder of this season, the same could also be said for their opponents. I’ll go for a 2-1 Arsenal win which ends up being a little trickier for them than it looks on paper. (Cover image from IMAGO)You can follow every game in the FA Cup with FotMob this year – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.