WATFORD, Chelsea, Leicester City.

FA Cup semi-finals don’t come around too often for Saints.

Whatever happens at Wembley tonight, the Foxes will be added to the short list of opponents Saints have faced in the final-four stage of the competition across the past three decades.

For all their recent years competing in the top flight, it is fair to say cup pedigree is not something widely associated with the Hampshire club.

Since reaching the FA Cup final under Gordon Strachan in 2003, Saints have never returned to the showpiece event, not reaching the semis again until 2018, where Mark Hughes’s men lost 2-0 to Chelsea.

It has not been a much better story in the League Cup. There was a near miss in the 2017 final, going down 3-2 to Manchester United, down in no small part to a controversially disallowed Manolo Gabbiadini effort.

But across the two major cup competitions, there have been early-round defeats to the likes of Millwall, Bristol Rovers, Derby County, Mansfield Town, Notts County and Rotherham United since Strachan’s side stepped out at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

However, even that day turned out to be a near miss for Saints, beaten 1-0 by a Robert Pires strike as Arsenal retained the trophy.

One man who was part of the group that season, and featured on the run to Cardiff, was legend Francis Benali.

And while the 34-year-old defender did not make the matchday squad against Arsenal, nor the 2-1 semi-final triumph over Watford having lost his spot at left-back to Wayne Bridge, the cup run still brings back fond memories.

“The whole journey, there was always a bit of a belief and a confidence,” Benali told the Daily Echo.

“The draws were fairly kind to us as well. Obviously we could’ve had a tougher semi-final, but still had to beat Watford.

“I wanted nothing more than to be figuring as a player in those games – the semi-finals and the final. Gordon Strachan kept me in and around the squad, which was great.

“I played the two Millwall cup ties home and away, so it’s nice to have played a part in the run to the final.

“But it was also tinged with I guess the compounded disappointment and sadness that my career was about to finish at the end of that season and the added disappointment of being back in the dressing room as a member of the squad that had ultimately lost the final.

“Because the whole competition was everything I dreamt it was, apart from actually getting our hands on the trophy.”

While Benali did not feature, he was later awarded an FA Cup runners-up medal for his contributions during the run.

Speaking over Zoom, a signed yellow shirt from the cup final is clear to see, framed and on the wall behind him.

But where does Benali keep his medal?

“It’s awful to say it, I don’t know where the medal is! I know where the signed shirt is, but we’ve had a couple of house moves since being awarded that medal,” he explained.

“It’s somehow gone astray, which I’m a little bit concerned about whenever we talk about it!”

Preparations for the semi-final did not exactly go to plan for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side, thrashed 3-0 at West Brom on Monday evening.

However, the omens may be good, in that when Saints lifted the trophy in 1976, they also suffered a 3-0 away defeat in the league match before the semis, losing at Sunderland.

And in 2003, Saints went three games without a win before their last-four victory over Watford.

Asked if it was understandable for Saints to turn in such a performance at The Hawthorns ahead of Sunday’s huge cup semi-final, Benali said: “It was probably a combination of the result (3-2 win) against Burnley, taking us to 36 points and potentially subconsciously thinking we’re pretty safe to a degree. Plus the game coming up this Sunday.

“But for me personally, that’s no excuse or reason to see the performance and result that we saw against West Brom on Monday.

“I thought it was a dreadful way to start the game.

“I think if Ralph had more players to pick from on Sunday, then there probably would’ve been one or two players that would be a little bit nervous this week about whether they were going to be in the starting line-up.”

Quizzed on if it was possible for players to play their way out of the team for the cup game, Benali added: “What it will do is it’ll make Ralph think more about his team selection, because it was very strong line-up (at West Brom).

“But the way that the game panned out, he will think harder I think about who is going to be starting on Sunday.

“I’ve seen it. Even in the 2003 cup run, I think I remember Fabrice Fernandes in the 6-1 defeat at Highbury before the final, didn’t start the final himself. I think he (Strachan) put Chris Baird in.

“So it’s quite possible for players to play themselves out of a team as opposed to cementing a place in the starting line-up.”

It is approaching 45 years next month since Lawrie McMenemy’s fabled team defeated Manchester United at Wembley.

But for Leicester, that day has never come. They have reached the FA Cup final three times, but lost on every occasion, most recently way back in 1969.

Despite this, they will go in as favourites against Saints, currently sitting third in the Premier League, 20 points and 13 places above Hasenhuttl’s men.

“We’re now up against an opponent who is very organised and very confident,” said Benali of Leicester.

“You look at their team and their players and their manager, they’re going to be an extremely tough opponent on Sunday. And we’re going to have to perform to the best of our ability.

“We’re capable of that. We’ve seen that throughout the season. But to progress to the final, they (Saints) are going to have to be firing on all cylinders.

“But we are capable of doing it and that’s what excites me a little bit. I can’t wait for Sunday’s game.”

Watch Leicester City v Southampton in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final exclusively live on BT Sport 1 from 6pm on Sunday. Sign up contract free with a BT Sport Monthly Pass for just £25 per month. For more info visit bt.com/sport