Rodgers has eyes on a grandwembley final
Boss Brendan Rodgers wants Leicester City to use their previous heartbreak to reach a historic FA Cup final.
The Foxes are aiming to reach their first final since 1969 when they face Southampton in the last four today.
It is their second semi-final under Rodgers after they suffered a surprise defeat to Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup last season.
Leicester are again favourites versus the Saints and Rodgers wants the pain against Villa to aid them at Wembley.
“That’s what failure brings if you work the process well, you have to see it as a learning process,” he said.
“Any team, any successful individual, you have to go down – unfortunately – that road of failure in order to learn.
“These players showed from that they are able to go on and respond and now we are in another semi-final. You are never guaranteed anything, no matter if your squad is brimming with talent, it’s always a difficult game.
“Certainly the learning from that and being able to look back and reflect on it will hopefully help us this weekend.
“We’ll be giving everything and we’re super motivated. I trust the team that we can get a result.”
James Maddison, Ayoze Perez and Hamza Choudhury are available after they were dropped for last weekend’s defeat at West Ham for breaching coronavirus regulations having attended a party at Perez’s house.
Leicester beat Southampton 2-0 in the Premier League in January and Rodgers insisted the Foxes must look to control their own destiny.
He said: “They are a very good side. Both teams lost their last games but we can only control the game we bring. If we play to a high level it’ll give us a very good chance.
“Our focus is on ourselves and we have an opportunity to reach a major cup final and need to grasp it with both hands. When we arrived here our challenge was to compete in the league and cups. Each year we look to try and make a step forward. If we can get to the final it’ll be another step forward for us.”
Nathan Redmond is looking to end a frustrating season on a high for stuttering Southampton.
Having flourished during Project Restart, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side kicked on impressively at the start of the 2020/21 season and soared to the Premier League summit in November.
Southampton’s first time at the top in 32 years was always going to be short-lived, but the subsequent drop off has been alarming and they head to Wembley reeling from Monday’s 3-0 loss at embattled West Brom.
Saints look safe despite picking up just 10 points from 15 matches in 2021, with their FA
Cup run providing much-needed positivity as the 1976 winners prepare to face the Foxes in today’s second semi-final.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Redmond revealed.“We had aspirations of a cup run this season and we’re well on course with that. “We know it’s going to be a difficult game. “We’re all looking forward to it. I’m sure the fans are looking forward to it albeit they can’t be there, and I think it’s good for the club.”
Saints fans across the globe will be glued to the TV – and braced for irksome mentions of the 9-0 loss to the Foxes in 2019 – as Wembley finally opens its door to a small number of spectators.
There will be 4,000 local residents and NHS staff in attendance as the FA Cup semi-final acts as a test event, but fans are likely to form a significant part of the 20,000 crowd lined up for next month’s final.
“It was a little bit bittersweet when fans were allowed back in and obviously then there was a spike during Covid and then it had to sort of be shut down a little bit,” 2017 EFL Cup runner-up Redmond said.
“Of course football is nothing without fans and I have to give credit to all the footballers playing at all the levels where a lot of fans would have meant a lot to them during the games where they needed them the most.
“During the restart it was weird, but we sort of adapted to it now and I think everybody in football is missing it.”
Southampton defeated Shrewsbury, holders Arsenal and Wolves to reach the quarter-finals, when Redmond’s brace inspired the side to a 3-0 win at neighbours Bournemouth.
It was the kind of performance that Saints fans became used to when voting him their 2018/19 player of the year, but things have been topsy-turvy since and Hasenhuttl called for him to kick on from his “very difficult season” after the win at Bournemouth.
“Whether you’re a footballer, whether you work 9-5, whatever it is you do, you do have down moments,” said Redmond.
“We’re human beings at the end of the day but in this industry there is a perception that you are expected to be perfect all the time. We’re human. We’re not perfect all the time.”