Saints Marching
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Chelsea 2-0 Southampton (FA Cup): Three key players

By Chris Hughes

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Olivier Giroud of Chelsea celebrates scoring the first goal during the The Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Chelsea and Southampton at Wembley Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Olivier Giroud of Chelsea celebrates scoring the first goal during the The Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Chelsea and Southampton at Wembley Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 22: Olivier Giroud of Chelsea celebrates scoring the first goal during the The Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Chelsea and Southampton at Wembley Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 22: Olivier Giroud of Chelsea celebrates scoring the first goal during the The Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Chelsea and Southampton at Wembley Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) /

On Sunday afternoon Southampton’s FA Cup dream came crashing down as they were dispatched 2-0 by a much-improved Chelsea side.

Antonio Conte tinkered with his side following the comeback against the Saints a week prior by most-importantly starting Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman will probably be one of the sadder players if Southampton do get relegated, as he has been brilliant against them in recent matches.

The striker scored the first goal shortly after the restart before his fellow forward Alvaro Morata put the game to bed with less than ten minutes to go. It was a spirited Saints performance but ultimately Conte’s team learnt from the mistakes that saw them go 2-0 down a week ago.

Despite being knocked out of the competition, the Saints now have four cup finals ahead of them, with the cliche coming true regarding the run-in to season’s end.

Before facing Manchester City on the final day, Southampton have games against Bournemouth, Everton and Swansea – whilst the Saints have been poor all season they have the talent to be able to beat these three on their day. If they’re to somehow win all three, they may just survive.

But looking back to Sunday and the defeat at Wembley, who stood out?