Ross Stewart drops clear Southampton warning ahead of Wrexham | OneFootball

The Scottish frontman set the Saints on their way to a famous FA Cup win against Arsenal, but the Championship remains the focus

Southampton were involved in a big upset in th eFA Cup on Saturday, beating what many believe to be one of the best teams in the world, Arsenal, at St Mary's.

Tonda Eckert's side took the game to the Premier League leaders, beating them 2–1 thanks to goals from Ross Stewart and Shea Charles just five minutes from time, after Viktor Gyokeres had equalised in the second half.

It extended Southampton's current unbeaten run in all competitions to 15 games, which has included wins over two Premier League sides in the FA Cup and seen Tonda Eckert's outfit throw themselves right into play-off contention.

With a Wembley trip on the horizon against Manchester City, it can be easy to get distracted by that and let their top-six hopes fall by the wayside, akin to Coventry City two years ago, but goalscorer Stewart is adamant that the Saints are fully focused on getting back to the top flight ahead of a crunch matchup with Wrexham tonight.

Ross Stewart urges Southampton to treat Wrexham game 'properly' or else

The buzz from Saturday is still ringing around the Southampton fanbase, but the Scottish frontman hopes that it won't impact their league games in the lead-up to the semi-final on the weekend of the 25th April.

In their first league game back after their fifth-round win over Fulham, Tonda Eckert's side needed a late equaliser to draw level with relegation-threatened West Brom, and that level of performance cannot rear its head when they travel to the Stok Cae Ras to take on Wrexham, who leapfrogged them into the top six with a comeback draw on Good Friday against the Baggies.

"An FA Cup semi-final is an occasion to look forward to. There's a lot of league business that we have to handle, and that starts on Tuesday," Stewart told the Southern Daily Echo.

"We have to learn from that game at West Brom and realise there might have been a hangover there. It's always tough to get back to the levels of Saturday. This is where we need the experienced boys to get the group together and realise that we need to treat every game the same as the one against Arsenal.

"It's going to be extremely tough on Tuesday — it will be a completely different type of game — and we need to treat it properly.

"The main aim this season is to get promoted out of the Championship. Tuesday is a big game in terms of that happening."

A win against Wrexham will see Tonda Eckert's side move back into the top six, creating a two-point barrier ahead of Phil Parkinson's side, and with a game in hand, too.

It would also see them move within six points of Ipswich Town, who hold the second automatic promotion spot. With Southampton still to play the Tractor Boys, they'll believe that they could even make a late run for the top two if they play as they did against Arsenal in the upcoming league games.

Ross Stewart's availability could help Southampton maintain a promotion push amidst their FA Cup run

It's been an injury-ridden three years down on the South Coast for Stewart since he made the move from Sunderland ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.

The Scotsman has made just 41 appearances at St Mary's since the move, owing to bad hamstring and Achilles injuries. A hamstring issue even kept him out for large periods earlier this season, too.

But the impact that the 29-year-old has on Tonda Eckert's side when fit is there to be seen, with seven goals in all competitions throughout this stop-start campaign.

It's a cliché that, with a hefty fixture backlog across the next month, the German boss will need everyone fit, available and raring to go, but that counts double for Stewart, who has the quality at the top end of the pitch to truly fire Southampton back to the Premier League.