Southampton vs Arsenal Prediction: Gyokeres to fire the Gunners to the semi-finals

Southampton may be fighting for promotion back to the Premier League but the Saints have an FA Cup quarter-final to navigate first. They host Arsenal at St. Mary's on Saturday (20:00 BST, BBC One).

Meanwhile, the Gunners are looking for a response after a flat performance in their Carabao Cup final defeat against Manchester City. Read on for my Southampton vs Arsenal predictions, accompanied by the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

An accumulation of yellow cards sees Flynn Downes and Kuryu Matsuki suspended for Southampton on Saturday.

Captain Jack Stephens picked up an injury in training on Monday and is likely to miss the cup tie. Leo Scienza, who has a groin issue, is also set to be unavailable.

Mads Roerslev (knee) is out for the season, while Welington (muscle), Jay Robinson (thigh) and Alex McCarthy (wrist) are also sidelined.

Football Odds

Mikel Merino is definitely ruled out for Arsenal with his foot injury and Martin Odegaard is a doubt because of a knee problem. There are also concerns over Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze and Leandro Trossard, with Mikel Arteta unlikely to take risks in this FA Cup quarter final.

Southampton vs Arsenal Odds

As the underdogs, Southampton are a 5/1 bet to win this tie. The draw in regulation time can be covered at 9/2.

Arsenal are 2/7 to prevail in 90 minutes and they have won three of their previous four competitive away fixtures.

Returning to the Gunners after some goalscoring heroics for Sweden, Viktor Gyokeres is the joint-favourite to score anytime at 19/20.

Today's Football Fixtures

To Win To Nil - Arsenal @ 21/20

Arsenal love clean sheets just as much as victories. The Gunners have won to nil on 22 occasions this season in all competitions, and this is priced at an attractive 21/20 for Saturday.

Arteta's squad may be hampered by injuries, but he still boasts more quality in reserve than his counterpart Tonda Eckert. Arsenal were disappointing in the Carabao Cup final against Man City before the international break, so the supporters need to see an improvement from the players on show in Southampton.

I believe they will step up and post a professional victory to book them another visit to Wembley.

Anytime Goalscorer - Viktor Gyokeres @ 19/20

Five goals in four games for club and country should have Gyokeres brimming with confidence coming into this tie. The striker played a pivotal role in sending Sweden to the Fifa World Cup finals, scoring four times over the international break, including the winner against Poland, and now I think he can be the man to fire Arsenal into the FA Cup semi-finals.

Gyokeres has 16 goals in all competitions for the Gunners this term but he is still waiting to open his account in this competition. I think 19/20 (implied probability of 51.3%) is good value for him to do just that at St. Mary's.

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