James Ward-Prowse admitted Saints’ FA Cup exit at the hands of Crystal Palace was particularly frustrating in light of some of the other results in the competition.

It was a day of shocks yesterday, as the Premier League’s top three were all dumped out, with Chelsea and Manchester City also suffering home defeats, to Bradford and Middlesbrough respectively.

Add in Spurs’ loss to Leicester at White Hart Lane and it means a significant number of heavyweights are already out of contention for the famous trophy.

“It’s obviously a shame, because the big teams are out, but it’s just one of those things,” said Ward-Prowse.

“It’s the beauty of the FA Cup. We expected to win, and unfortunately we didn’t, but that’s just one of those things.”

The midfielder added: “Obviously, we did well to get the two goals, but we’re really disappointed after the game with, obviously, defensively how we performed.

“That’s not just the back four, that’s collectively as a team.

“I think Palace, we saw them at the start and we saw their attacking players, and we knew they were going to come at us from the start, but I think on our part it was sloppy defending.”

The disappointment of this defeat will likely be short-lived, as Saints prepare to continue their exciting league campaign next Sunday, when Swansea visit St Mary’s.

Ward-Prowse says the players will be working this week to make sure they do not make the same mistakes in that match.

“I think we’ll just apply ourselves right in training,” he said.

“Obviously, the matches are once a week for us now and I think we’ve got a good few days of training and making sure that we rectify the errors that we made, and I’m sure that when it comes to next Sunday we’ll be ready.”

Asked whether an early FA Cup exit could help the club in the league by removing a distraction, Ward-Prowse said: “Potentially, but that’s not really our thoughts.

“We want to win every game, and we want to be in the FA Cup still.

“But it’s a chance for us to focus on the league and hopefully we’re going to keep pushing on.”