Southampton manager Mark Hughes ahead of his side's game against Chelsea

Hughes was synonymous with the competition as a player, lifting the famous trophy four times, three of those victories coming with Manchester United and the other with Saints’ opponents tomorrow Chelsea.

It’s not a surprise, therefore, to hear Hughes talk up the competition despite its more negative recent press.

“I am looking forward to it. I got to a number of cup finals as a player and I got to a number of cup finals as a manager, but never been able to lead a team out at Wembley,” he said.

“It’s a game for us where it’s a one off game and we need a huge effort to try and overcome a good Chelsea team.

“The competition itself is one that has figured highly in my career as a player and as a manager. I have always enjoyed the challenge of it.

“When you get to the latter stages, clearly everybody wants to win.

“The earlier stages in this day and age, it wasn’t always the case as for a lot of the big boys the FA Cup is lower down in their list of priorities. But funnily enough as you get nearer to semi-finals and finals, all of a sudden their priorities change. They gain a little bit more interest in it but it is what it is.

“It’s a great competition and it has a huge interest right across the world and rightly so, it’s fantastic in terms of the effect it has on football people. It’s a fixture and a date in the calendar that everybody looks forward to.”

For Saints the game comes as welcome relief from the rigours of fighting for Premier League survival.

“I think we can use it as a distraction,” reckoned Hughes, who is set to make changes to his team at Wembley to keep things fresh.

“We can still learn from the game itself and that is good from my point of view, in terms of leading into the Bournemouth game.

“We are going to have a free week as well leading into that game after the game on Sunday so that is important for us.

“Anything that we learn or feel we can introduce, having seen it against Chelsea will be a benefit to us. I think it is fair to say that we will have a go and give it our best shot and see where it takes us.”

He continued: “Some players react in different ways and nobody is exactly the same as everybody else. They go through different emotions and deal with the same situation in different ways, so it is how people react.

“The guys with the ability to think clearly under pressure are the ones who will have the bigger impact.

“You hope on the day that you have more of those types than the opposition.

“Clearly, Chelsea have lots of experience of games of this ilk, so they have an advantage in terms of experience of this level of game but that doesn’t mean we can’t go there and cause some problems.”

Though the last meeting between the sides started well but ended badly as Saints let a two goal lead slip to lose 3-2 to Chelsea, there is still some reason for optimism given the club’s strong performances against top six teams this season.

“It seems like that is the case, time will tell,” reflected Hughes.

“We are going there with the intention of winning the game which is what we have to do.

“It’s not a rehearsal for something else, we have one opportunity to win the game and get in the Cup final. That should be a motivating factor in itself.

“It’s a semi-final and you have the opportunity to get into an FA Cup Final.

“As a kid, that was one of my main goals when I was a schoolboy kicking the ball about on the yard, to be a professional footballer and play in an FA Cup final.

“Thankfully, I was able to do it but a lot of players don’t get the opportunity.

“We have got the opportunity to get to the final game of a fantastic competition and we have got to grab it.”