Schmeichel: We're Up For It

City tackle Watford on Thursday night in front of what looks set to be a massive King Power Stadium crowd, with a place at Wembley against either Brighton or Crystal Palace on offer for the winners over two legs.

And after a rousing 3-2 victory away at Nottingham Forest on Saturday to book their spot in the play-offs, new life was breathed into City’s season with a return to English football’s top-flight still a possibility.

“We’re on a high,” Schmeichel told Foxes Player. “We’re hoping that will be something that we can use to our advantage and something that can carry us through.

“We’ve been in [training] getting ready for the game on Thursday, so preparations are moving along nicely and we’re up for it.

“It was a great game to play in [against Forest] and it must have been a great game to watch. It was end-to-end and if we play like that we are going to have a good chance against anybody.

“It was a little bit of a strange feeling because at the final whistle we were running about not knowing what the other result was for a couple of minutes then of course the result came through and we were delighted.”

Schmeichel is well aware though that Watford will be no pushovers at King Power Stadium on Thursday, having already beaten City in the final home game of the league season in April in a close match.

At the weekend Gianfranco Zola’s Hornets missed out on automatic promotion with a last gasp 2-1 defeat at the hands of Leeds, but City’s Danish international doesn’t think motivation will be a problem for either side.

He added: “I don’t think it will be too much of a factor. I’m sure they will be up for it as much as we will.

“They’ve got a very good manager who will I’m sure pick them up and the experienced players they have in their dressing room will make sure everyone is back at it.

“I hope it’ll be different [to when we played them last], I hope we’ll win. It’s a difficult one, as the first leg in any two-legged game can sometimes be a bit cagey, but hopefully we can go out and get a good lead going into the second game.”