Saints ease into FA Cup semi-finals

The winger, recalled to the starting line-up, assisted the opening goal for Moussa Djenepo with a perfectly-weighted pass eight minutes before the interval.

Redmond then scored himself in first-half stoppage time with a sublime solo effort, showing a clean pair of heels to Bournemouth captain Steve Cook before firing into the top corner.

Saints’ No 11 doubled his tally just shy of the hour mark, reacting quickest after the outstanding Stuart Armstrong struck the post from the edge of the box.

Redmond was only a whisker wide with the chance of a hat-trick, while Saints also saw two goals ruled out by VAR on a day when the visitors hit top gear.

Ralph Hasenhüttl opted for two changes to his starting line-up, one of which was enforced, with Takumi Minamino unavailable having already featured in this season’s FA Cup for parent club Liverpool.

Elsewhere, Nathan Tella dropped to the bench as Djenepo and Redmond returned to reinvigorate a Saints attack that struggled to create chances against Brighton last time out.

It might not be a fixture recognised as a derby, but there was no questioning the commitment of either team in the opening exchanges, which were played at a frantic pace.

When Saints were able to wrestle some early control, they thought they had taken the lead in the 10th minute.

Jan Bednarek played an inch-perfect pass over the head of left-back Diego Rico for Kyle Walker-Peters to run in behind, take the ball in his stride and square it for Ché Adams, who was only denied a tap-in by Cameron Carter-Vickers, who turned the cross into his own net.

But as Saints celebrated, VAR intervened, ruling Walker-Peters had strayed fractionally beyond the Bournemouth backline and the goal was disallowed for offside.

Undeterred, Saints launched another attack five minutes later, as Armstrong reached the byeline and cut the ball back for Ryan Bertrand, but the defender’s shot just veered away from the far post.

Saints were showing their Premier League superiority but Bournemouth remained on level terms, and carved out their first chance of note midway through the first half, when Arnaut Danjuma was forced wide by Bednarek, ensuring Fraser Forster was never likely to be beaten and the keeper duly repelled the shot at his near post.

Danjuma was the danger man, and he slipped away from Bednarek soon afterwards, prompting a cynical foul from the Pole for the first yellow card of the day.

From the resulting free-kick, Cook’s driven cross was turned wide by Rodrigo Riquelme, who would have given Forster a problem had he been able to hit the target, given the pace on the cross.

Next time Riquelme was in possession he did hit the target, trading passes on the edge of the box before sending Forster sprawling to his left to make a smothering stop.

But Saints had already showcased their threat and made the most of a slick counter-attack to make the breakthrough eight minutes before half-time.

Redmond led the charge, with Adams to his right and Djenepo to his left, and kept his head superbly, timing the pass to perfection as Djenepo darted in behind, took the ball in his stride and slotted a cool finish into the bottom corner.

Saints were good value for their lead and doubled the advantage in the dying seconds of the first period, leaving them sitting pretty at the interval.

With only one minute of added time at the end of the half, Saints were awarded a throw-in taken by Ryan Bertrand.

When Bertrand sent the ball in to Armstrong, the Scot cleverly chested it into the path of Redmond, who had drifted in from the right and picked up a central position.

Turning to face the Bournemouth defence, Redmond found himself one against one with Cook, who he sent off balance as he dummied to shoot before reversing a beautiful finish back across goal to find the top corner.

Saints had breathing space and might have needed it had Jack Wilshere halved the deficit early in the second period, but the former England international’s 20-yard drive just brushed the side-netting on its way wide.

The Cherries were determined to throw themselves a lifeline, but instead Saints took the game away from their hosts.

First Adams drilled a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, only for VAR to step in for a second time in the match, this time to rule that Armstrong was offside in the build-up.

The lengthy delay did nothing to put Saints off their stride, and just shy of the hour Redmond made the game safe with his second of the day to top off an outstanding individual display.

When Armstrong let fly from 20 yards with a left-footed shot that struck the foot of the post, Redmond was alert to the rebound, composing himself to steer the loose ball into the opposite corner with a controlled first-time shot from 15 yards.

The winger might have had a hat-trick, curling another chance inches wide of the far post after a fine solo run from the influential Armstrong, himself denied by an excellent save from Asmir Begovic in the Bournemouth goal.

At the other end, Forster preserved his clean sheet with low saves from Danjuma and substitute Sam Surridge, as Hasenhüttl had the luxury of resting both of his starting centre-backs, with Bednarek and Jannik Vestergaard both having been cautioned.

That prompted the arrival of Jack Stephens and Mohammed Salisu 13 minutes from time, before youngsters Tella, Kayne Ramsay and Dan Nlundulu were introduced for the closing stages.

Head to Head Stats

• Possession (%)
  44

  56
• Shots
  7

  16
• Shots on target
  5

  5
• Corners
  2

  5
• Passes Complete
  282

  383