Arsene Wenger had high praise for Southampton ahead of Arsenal’s trip to St Mary’s on Saturday.

The FA Cup clash is bound to be a spicy one considering the Gunners don’t have the best records at the Saints’ home ground. In fact, we’ve conceded six during our last two trips to St Mary’s, and Wenger’s not surprised by their continued success.

“When you look they produced Walcott, Bale, Oxlade-Chamberlain, plus all the players that have left them since,” Wenger said. “Last year they lost Wanyama, they lost Mane, and people thought they would suffer this year. Again, they have really top quality – they lost Lallana, they lost many top players. Overall what they have managed to do is absolutely remarkable. I think it’s the club in England that has produced and developed the most players in the last 10 years and that’s absolutely remarkable.”

The thing about Southampton is they consistently lose their best players and even the man who everyone thought was pulling all the strings, Mauricio Pochettino, but have continued to compete and produce decent results.

Similar to Swansea, Southampton are one of those teams I don’t look forward to facing because they always seem to get one – or a few – over on us. Plus, as Wenger pointed out, after their result against Liverpool in the EFL Cup, they’re going to be on a high and potentially hungry for another cup run.

Hopefully, as confident as they must be feeling, they’re also a little tired from their mid-week match.