Southampton captain lifts lid on play-off final preparations as he makes nerves admission

Skipper Jack Stephens insists Southampton will be doing all they can to treat Sunday's Championship play-off final clash like it's just another game. The Saints will take on Leeds United at Wembley Stadium with the winner making the step up back up to the Premier League at the first time asking.

That's been Southampton's aim since they were relegated from the top flight last season and they know that their season boils down to 90 minutes in front of a sell out crowd at the national stadium this weekend. As such, given the do or die, all or nothing nature of the contest. it's hard to look at the game like the 46 regular season fixtures that have gone before it. But Stephens insists the club are trying their best to approach it like they would any other outing in a bid to avoid disrupting their pre-match rhythm.

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"I am more excited than nervous but there's certainly a few nerves in there, you need to have that to drive you to go and do well," Stephens told the Daily Echo. "I'm very excited and looking forward to the challenge. It has been very similar to how we would treat any other league game, to be honest.

"That's what the manager believes works so we won't change. We won't change the way we train. We won't change any of our approach. It's worked up to this point and we've had success. How hard do we go in training? I think it's important to go as hard as we have done.

"You need to get to that level on Sunday so if we can do it through the week, hopefully, it'll make Sunday a little bit easier."

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Southampton will arrive in the capital with their tails up, following their play-off semi-final win over West Bromwich Albion last Friday. The Saints played out a 0-0 draw with Carlos Corberan's side in the West Midlands but they took the game to their visitors in the second leg and recorded a 3-1 win.

Will Smallbone scored the opener before a brace from Adam Armstrong sealed their place in the final and while Stephens admits the Southampton players enjoyed the aftermath of their semi-final win, their focus quickly turned to Leeds United and the task at hand.

"It was just incredible," he said. "That's always difficult because you want to enjoy nights like that, and we did enjoy it as a group together in the dressing room afterwards.

"But you also have to get the balance right and remember there's still one more to go, and I think we did that very well. We had a good laugh after the game in the dressing room and got ourselves ready for this Sunday."

He added: "I think it's a massive game for everyone and obviously, the occasion of a Wembley final is massive.

"We have to deal with that itself and separately from the game, I think. We need to try and get that out of our systems, which I think we've done. We are now focused on the game itself and what we're going to bring on the pitch. If we get that right, we're not going to be too far away."