Arsene Wenger hails Alexis Sanchez as Arsenal maintain push for Champions League

Olivier Giroud scored the second but Southampton had been impossible to break down until the Chile international notched his 20th goal of the season just after the break.

"The goal he scored tonight shows what he's about," Wenger said. "Very good technique in a short space. He scores important goals." 

Victory lifts Arsenal to within three points of Manchester City and four of Liverpool, who have played one game more. 

And Arsene Wenger insisted he had maintained his faith even when the side suffered five defeats in eight Premier League games leading up to the FA Cup semi-final.

"I never questioned the character of my side," he said. "It's not because you lose games people expect you to win that you have no character. We went through a bad patch.

"It's a good opportunity to show your character, how you come back and how you recover. Maybe the City game gave us confidence. Let's not go too quickly to conclusions, and focus and give everything at Stoke on Saturday." 

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be missing, however, and Wenger refused to say whether he would be fit again in time for the FA Cup final even.

"It's a hamstring problem but we don't know how bad it is," Wenger said. "I don't know about the FA Cup final - it doesn't look... he walks properly, it was tight, but not a knife (pain).

"Personally I didn't see any incident where he had to stop a sprint. It was more fatigue, but it's difficult to assess so close." 

Under-fire Southampton manager Claude Puel said: "It is a big disappointment after a good game and a good performance. It is difficult to accept this game is lost - we need to find that clinical edge."