Svensson's Semi Spur

Michael Svensson said that he was inspired by the welcoming committee the team received as they arrived at Villa Park on Sunday and was looking forward to similar occasions in the future. The towering Swede commented: ¡§When we got there we drove through the Watford fans first and I was wondering where are our fans were - I could only see a few of them.

¡§But then we arrived at the stadium our fans were there and it was amazing. I¡¦ve never had a reception like that before. It¡¦s inspiring, it was a massive occasion, the atmosphere around the ground was marvellous.

¡§As a player you are always looking to play in big games and when you do get the chance to play in front of such a crowd it¡¦s amazing ¡V it¡¦s the whole reason you play football.¡¨

Talking about the game itself he added: ¡§It¡¦s difficult to play a semi-final and when you play against a Division One team you feel the pressure that you have to win.

¡§You¡¦re a bit tense and it¡¦s hard to find your game and I think that went for both us and Watford.

¡§But we didn¡¦t let ourselves down and most importantly we didn¡¦t let the fans down.¡¨

As he looked ahead to tomorrow's game against Leeds though he said the players would be 100% focused on the task in hand with thoughts of the final put to the back of their minds.

¡§We¡¦re professional,¡¨ he insisted. ¡§We can¡¦t just forget about the league now we have to concentrate on that because that¡¦s something totally different.

¡§The cup final is not until the 17th of May so we have a few games left in the league and of course we want to get as high as we can.¡¨

¡§We want to win every game that we have left. There¡¦s a feeling at the club that we should definitely be in the top 10.

¡§There¡¦s six points at stake at the weekend and I don¡¦t see why we can¡¦t take all of them.

¡§Of course the games will be tough but we want to get two results.¡¨

After a couple of days rest at the beginning of the week the centre-back also seemed to be relishing the challenge of back to back games as he said: ¡§It will not be a problem for us.

¡§We are strong and in good physical condition and we showed that during the winter when we did well in our games over Christmas.¡¨

There was no suggestion of complacency though as he added: ¡§Leeds have proven that they are a good team and they can score goals so its going to be a tough game and we have to be focused and prepared for that.¡¨ With Svensson likely to be facing the daunting prospect of an in form Mark Viduka, following the Australian forward¡¦s recent glut of goals Saints number 11 commented: ¡§He is a good player, he¡¦s big, strong, good in the air and good with his feet as well so we will have to be careful about him.

¡§You have to prepare yourself in the right way for the sort of player that you¡¦re going to face.

¡§If you are going to be playing against a small quick player you have to be careful about that and if you are going to be playing against a big centre forward type you need to know what you are going to do when you are taking them on.

¡§The important thing though is that you have to be mentally prepared and on Saturday we will be ready.¡¨

As he continued by talking about his preparation for Monday¡¦s trip to Birmingham Svensson added: ¡§They have Dugarry and a couple of good players.

¡§He can make a difference for them. He¡¦s a target player with good feet and really good technique.

¡§He¡¦s really good in the air so we¡¦ll have to be careful about crosses and things like that.¡¨