Ward-Prowse: The belief is strong
James Ward-Prowse "very satisfied" as Southampton secured a 1-0 victory over reigning champions Arsenal in the Emirates FA Cup fourth-round at St Mary's.
Saints come up trumps in the first of a double-header with Arsenal as the two sides clash twice in the space of four days. Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhães deflected a Kyle Walker-Peters shot into the back of his own net, giving Saints an early lead.
One goal was it all it took to secure Saints’ place in the last 16 of the competition, beating Arsenal in the FA Cup for the first time in their history.
“We knew it would be a tough challenge, a tough FA Cup draw but there’s a belief in how we want to do things and play.” Ward-Prowse claimed. “We got the rewards from how we wanted to play and we scored a very good goal with Kyle.
“We had a few good opportunities but our decision making when we won the ball wasn’t always the greatest so that’s something we need to improve on come Tuesday and going forward.
“It’s a bit of a shame we can’t have a draw tonight to get that excitement but it was a tough couple of games. The academy boys came in well during the week and helped us win the game and for them to be around us in the FA Cup is a great experience for them.
“Why not?” Ward-Prowse exclaimed when asked about a run in this year’s competition. “It’s a great competition to be in, one that I’ve got a lot of good memories with and played some memorable games in. We all want to win silverware, look back at the end of our careers and see the things that we’ve won and this is a great opportunity to go on to do that."
With focus now shifting to Tuesday’s Premier League battle with Arsenal, Saints will be hoping to continue their run of clean sheets at St Mary’s which currently stands at four in a row.
“We’ve developed a lot in all areas of our game. We’re basing our performances now off of those clean sheets and all the time you do that you give yourself a good foundation in the game to go on and win.
“They’ll be a few debriefs and tactical analysis but the belief in what we’re doing is so strong that we don’t care who we play or how many times we play them. We believe in how we do it and we’ll apply that again Tuesday night."
