Wednesday 21 January 2015 15:56, UK
Michael Doyle admits Sheffield United must raise their game further if they are to pull off an upset in their Capital One Cup semi-final at Tottenham.
The Blades have beaten West Ham and Southampton to reach the last four and have also had impressive FA Cup campaigns in the past few seasons.
And Doyle believes if the tie is still alive after the first leg at White Hart Lane, his side have "a brilliant chance" in the return leg at Bramall Lane.
The United skipper said: "There's a lot to play for and I'm sure Tottenham will be fired up.
"They'll look at our previous results and performances in other cup games and I'm sure they'll take note of that.
"They won't underestimate us, especially as we've come so far and they'll be looking to finish it in the first leg, so we've got to be on our guard.
"I just hope we can keep the tie alive. If we can, coming back to Bramall Lane will give us a brilliant chance."
The Irish midfielder led the Blades out at Wembley in last season's FA Cup semi-final defeat to Hull and the third round thrashing of QPR earlier this month.
When asked to explain the Blades' cup form under Nigel Clough, Doyle added: "We've gone out with no fear in them and produced some of our best performances in a long time.
"The cup games have left people scratching their heads and asking why we can't replicate that form in the league.
"In the league games we probably have the ball as much but we sit back and counter-attack in the cup games a bit more, whereas teams probably do that to us in the league.
"It's quite difficult to play against if you do it right. We've found it difficult to play against at times, but we do it quite well ourselves, which we've shown against the Premier League teams.”
Watch Tottenham versus Sheffield United live on Wednesday, coverage starts at 7:30pm, Sky Sports 1 HD.
