A MAN has been arrested and a young woman was rushed to hospital after an alleged late-night knife attack in a Southampton estate.

A 23-year-old girl was left in a puddle of her own blood after the attack in an alley off Kent Street at about 4am on Thursday morning.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, one of the witnesses, a 25-year-old woman from Northam, said she, her friend, and two men were approached by a confrontational man.

The witness added the two men she was with tried to diffuse the situation but the man ran into a house and came back out waving a kitchen knife and ended up slashing her friend's wrist.

"I saved her life. I had to take my clothes off and wrap it around her wrist and keep her arm in the air until the ambulance got there," the witness said.

"She nearly died. I thought she was going to die. She was literally lying in a puddle of blood.

"I had blood all over me and she had blood all over her.

"The man, who had the knife, ran back into the house he got it from when he saw all the blood.

"She is out of hospital now but she has to go back in tomorrow to have an operation because there is nerve damage.

"We did not know him. I walk passed that house every day and I have never seen him before.

"Police have arrested him. They got the sniffer dogs out and riot police busted down the door and got him out.

"They were all hiding in the flat looking out the window laughing at us.

"My friend is okay now but she is really shook up by it."

A South Central Ambulance Service spokesman said they were asked to attend an incident on Kent Street early this morning.

He added they sent an ambulance to the scene and took a woman with a wrist injury to Southampton General.

A 24-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and is helping police with their inquiries.