Connell is relishing Leicester challenge in Youth Cup

The Foxes will visit the south coast on Friday 28th January, with kick-off at 7pm. 

The head coach is looking forward to another game in-front of a home crowd but knows that Leicester are one of the toughest opponents the Cherries could face.

He told afcb.co.uk: “A home draw is always really nice; over the years we’ve had some great nights at our stadium and obviously we had one recently against QPR so I know the boys are relishing playing at home again and we come up a formidable opponent in Leicester.”

Leicester City were confirmed as fifth round opponents following a narrow win over Crewe Alexandra last week, but will arrive at Vitality Stadium as one of the most in-form teams in academy football.

No team in the country has won more games in the Premier League U18 competition, the highest standard of competitive academy football, and haven’t lost a fixture since October.

Connell admits: “They knocked out the holders Aston Villa in the third round and are currently top of the category one league, above the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham so they look like arguably the best under-18 team in the country at the moment.

“It’s a massive game and one we’ll be going into as underdogs, but we’ve had that before and it’s important that the players enjoy it, we’ll be well prepared, and we’ll give it our best shot.

“Leicester have invested heavily in their academy after they got a brand-new training ground and they’ve got some international players in their squad, so they're going to be a tough opponents and a massive challenge."

The former Cherries striker, who made over 400 appearances in his playing career, has backed the home crowd to play their part in the upcoming fixture and knows that his squad will benefit from another night of football at the stadium.

He explains: “Being at home and hopefully getting another big crowd will help our players enjoy the experience and as long as my players give everything, I’ll be more than happy with that.

“Every round, the media attention gets bigger, the crowd gets bigger and that’s all good for what we’re trying to prepare them to do, which is play at a professional level.

“These Youth Cup nights are a valuable experience and even the pressure of a knockout cup tie is another ingredient that helps make these special experiences for the players.

“When I speak to the older players who came through the under-18s, they still look back really fondly and realise the importance these games had on their development.”

Fixture details for this FA Youth Cup fixture can be viewed here.