Nathan Redmond starred as Southampton saw off south coast rivals AFC Bournemouth by 3-0 to reach the last four of the Emirates FA Cup.
The winger scored once in either half, and set up Moussa Djenepo for Saints’ opener, as the 1976 FA Cup winners comfortably saw off Championship side Bournemouth.
Wembley now awaits Southampton, who last reached the semi-finals in 2018, while the Cherries' quest to become the fourth second-tier team to win the FA Cup ends.
The hosts, in their first FA Cup quarter final since 1957, came into the tie in good form but it was the Premier League outfit who started the brighter, despite having lost ten of their previous 12 Premier League games.
Ibrahima Diallo saw early time on the ball for Southampton and he had the contest’s first shots, but saw one blocked and dragged the other deflected effort wide.
And in the tenth minute the visitors appeared to have taken the lead when Jan Bednarek’s brilliant cross-field ball freed Kyle Walker-Peters down the right.
Southampton are marching on to Wembley! 🤩#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/EDlbXoB8g7
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) March 20, 2021
Walker-Peters’ dangerous ball into the box was steered into his own net by Cameron Carter-Vickers – but VAR intervened with Walker-Peters a fraction offside.
The Saints continued to find joy down the right, and Stuart Armstrong found Ryan Bertrand just outside the box but the defender could only steer his shot wide.
Bournemouth looked threatening on the counter though, and Fraser Forster had to be alert to get down low at his near post and push Arnaut Danjuma’s drive behind for a corner.
Rodrigo Riquelme showed signs of quality on the half-hour mark, first flashing wide of the Southampton goal from inside the box before forcing a comfortable save out of Forster after some neat approach play.
But the visitors did take the lead shortly before half time through a lovely team move, Redmond running at the Cherries defence before calmly releasing Djenepo, who curled his shot past goalkeeper Asmir Begovic into the bottom right corner of the net.
And Redmond’s brilliance continued in added on time at the end of the half, as he superbly weaved his way into the box before beating Steve Cook and then firing into the roof of the net to double his side’s lead.
Bournemouth tried to hit back immediately after the break, and Jack Wilshere’s drive from outside the box was close to doing so but it hit the side-netting.
Southampton were again denied by VAR in the 53rd minute when Che Adams’ smashed effort was ruled out for an offside on Armstrong in the build-up.
But they had their third not long after, with Redmond adding a second on the rebound after Armstrong’s shot hit the post with the Saints having nicked the ball off of the home side’s defence.
As the second half wore on, the hosts began to drop deeper as Southampton relentlessly pushed for a fourth.
Begovic was forced into denying the ever-dangerous Armstrong, as he turned the midfielder’s long-range strike around the post.
And then Redmond came close to completing his hat-trick, but the former England MU21s ace's curled shot just flashed past the post.
Forster, despite not having had much to do during the contest, was sharp to deny Danjuma’s shot from a tight angle on the left side of the box.
Substitute Sam Surridge then came close to pulling a goal back for the hosts, as he was picked out in the box but his header was pushed away by Forster as the Saints march on.
