STUART Armstrong insists there will be no hangover from Monday night's abject display at West Brom when Saints head out at Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final this weekend, insisting: "Everyone knows what’s at stake."
Saints were well beaten 3-0 by the second-bottom Baggies at The Hawthorns, an 11th defeat in 14 Premier League matches since early January.
However, Ralph Hasenhuttl's men appear to have saved their best performances for the FA Cup this calendar year, dispatching of Shrewsbury Town, Arsenal, Wolves and Bournemouth, without conceding along the way.
That sets up the chance to reach the FA Cup final for the first time since 2003 on Sunday, when Saints take on Leicester City at the home of English football.
And Armstrong, who looked Saints' brightest spark against West Brom, is confident the squad can quickly move on from that disappointment ahead of the season-defining clash at Wembley.
Asked if there was a concern the performance against the Baggies could linger, having seemingly turned a corner with back-to-back wins prior to that loss, Armstrong told the Daily Echo: "No, football moves fast.
"Every game is just around the corner. We’ll analyse the game on Monday, fix what needs to be fixed and then start preparing for a big game on Sunday.
"That’s football. I think you’ve got to take the highs with the lows.
"Monday night was certainly poor, but Sunday is a fresh challenge.
"It’s a big game, it’s a semi-final and a new competition so we’re very excited about that going into the weekend."
He added: "We need to learn and improve on what we did poorly on Monday and then put it out of our minds because Sunday is a fresh game.
"Different style of play, different opponent and it will be a new test."
Saints have only reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup twice since losing the final to Arsenal in 2003.
Their most recent outing in the last four was in 2018, where goals from Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata guided Chelsea to a 2-0 triumph over Mark Hughes's side.
Only four players who featured for Saints that day are available to play against the Foxes this weekend in Jan Bednarek, Ryan Bertrand, Nathan Redmond and Alex McCarthy.
Discussing the prospect of being just two games away from achieving something special with Saints in winning the FA Cup, a feat only previously achieved under Lawrie McMenemy in 1976, Armstrong said: "In our minds it’s one game.
"It’s certainly a big one. Everyone knows what’s at stake, but we need to get there first.
"So first of all we must focus on our preparation and put that into a good performance."
The other semi-final sees Chelsea face Manchester City on Saturday.
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