Leicester City under-21s arrive off the back of Fulham humiliation – out for shock against Sheffield Wednesday

Leicester City under-21s are the visitors to Hillsborough in what is a dead rubber for the Owls after defeats to Bradford City and Burton Albion put them out.

Leicester’s penalty shootout win at Bradford has given them a chance of qualification to the next round, though they’ll have their work cut out against what is expected to be a strong senior Wednesday line-up.

And the young Foxes turn up with a point to prove, having been hammered 7-0 by Fulham in their last outing.

“We’re pretty shell-shocked,” said Leicester coach Ben Petty after the defeat. “I definitely wasn’t expecting that performance, especially after the two great away performances at Chelsea and Bradford. We just spoke to the players there about the highs and lows of football.

“We’ve had that in the space of six days. Winning at Bradford on penalties and a great performance and then serving up a dismal display tonight, if I’m honest, and finding it difficult against a very good Fulham side.

“I have to remember that it’s a young team with four scholars. I need to make sure that they get the right experience, because we think they are really good players. They found it tough tonight.

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“We’ve got to take it on the chin. It’s a massive disappointment but we’ll recover and go again. We’ll be back in sync for Sheffield Wednesday I’m sure.”

Foxes midfielder Will Alves, 17, who scored in the penalty shootout win over Bradford, admitted the experience of playing in front of crowds and against professionals provides added motivation for the academy players.

He said: “It’s definitely a great experience playing against senior pros and there’s a different playing style compared to playing in Premier League 2. It’s definitely tougher, but I think we did really well [against Bradford].

“It’s great to play in front of crowds like this because normally we don’t usually get big crowds, especially if we’re wanting to push on to the first team, getting used to playing at these places [is important].

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“It would be incredible getting through into the knockout stages. We didn’t manage to do that last year, so to do it this year would be great.”