Arsenal travel to St Mary's to take on Southampton for the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday (28 January).

Where to Watch Live

Kick-off is set for 5.30pm GMT. Live coverage of the game will be on BT Sport 2 and 2 HD. Radio commentary will be available on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Overview

Southampton come into the game in the FA Cup in a buoyant mood following their 2-0 aggregate win over Liverpool to make the final of the EFL Cup. The Saints beat Jurgen Klopp's team home and away and will face Manchester United in the final at Wembley.

Claude Puel's side have already beaten Arsenal once this season when they knocked them out of the League Cup in December, and will look to hand them their second cup game defeat of the season on Saturday. Virgil van Dijk will be a big miss for the Saints, after the defender picked up an ankle ligament injury during their win over Leicester City. He missed the game against Liverpool on Wednesday and the injury is reported to be worse than expected with reports suggesting that he could be out for at least three months.

Arsenal will be fresher for the game as they got a full week's rest following their game against Burnley on Sunday, and Arsene Wenger is likely to rotate his players owing to the close proximity of games in the next eight days. The last time the Gunners were knocked out in the fourth round was during the 2009/10 season when they lost 1-3 away at Stoke City.

Danny Welbeck
Danny Welbeck could make his first start and replace Olivier Giroud in the starting XI for Arsenal's clash against Southampton Getty

The Frenchman shares the record for the maximum number of FA Cup wins – six – with former Aston Villa manager George Ramsay and made it clear that his team are keen to progress further in the competition. Danny Welbeck, who returned from a long-term knee injury earlier in the month, is in line to make his first start of the season after playing 21 minutes as a substitute in three games thus far.

Wenger, however, could miss the game against the Saints after the FA charged the manager with misconduct after he was sent to the stands during Arsenal's win over Burnley at the weekend (22 January). The hearing is yet to take place but a ban could be handed out before the clash at St Mary's.

Match Stat - Southampton have never beaten Arsenal in the FA Cup in their previous four meetings. They have lost three and drawn one game.

Prediction – Southampton win

What Managers Say

Claude Puel [on using EFL Cup to qualify for Europa League]: "It's important to put this experience for next year in European games. It'll be important to qualify. It will be important for the squad to continue the work, to improve, and know the possibilities to play European games."

"Now we go to Wembley, not just to participate but to win this cup," via BBC Sport

Arsene Wenger: "[On Southampton] They are certainly a football club who have done one of the best jobs in producing young players, on keeping the quality high despite losing big players. Overall, I think they've done a remarkable job, because they were punished quite harshly because they went down to League One, but they came up and since they've produced consistent results and quality games. I think it is a club where you can say 'really well done' because what they've done is remarkable," via Arsenal.com

Betting Odds (betfair)

  • Southampton Win: 13/5
  • Draw: 5/2
  • Arsenal Win: 23/20

Team News

Southampton

Possible XI: Forster, Soares, Yoshida, Stephens, Bertrand, Hojbjerg, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Redmond, Rodriguez, Tadic.

Arsenal

Possible XI: Ospina; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Gibbs; Ramsey, Coquelin; Iwobi, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Welbeck.

FA Cup