Leicester Tigers flanker Tom Croft expects Northampton Saints to be "very, very confident" for tomorrow's East Midlands derby.
The hosts warmed up for the Aviva Premiership semi-final by walloping Wasps 74-13 at Franklin's Gardens last Saturday afternoon.
They will be at home again for the clubs' third meeting of the season.
Croft thinks Jim Mallinder's side will be backing themselves to end Tigers' current 10-game unbeaten run against them.
"If you look at their team sheet, they have a great side," he said.
"We have been fortunate in the last couple of games to have the upper hand, but Saints are easily capable of beating us.
"It is all about the bounce of the ball or one slipped tackle, that can change a game.
"They will be very, very confident about us going down there and them holding us out.
"The semi-final is almost the harder game, because once you get through that game you can have a week off, re-gather yourselves, get a decent amount of training in and look forward to the big event at Twickenham."
To achieve that, Leicester will have to win an away semi-final for the first time since they beat Gloucester 26-25 at Kingsholm back in 2008.
Although only a handful of players are still around from that day, Croft said the squad's experience of playing in so many big games since then will stand them in good stead.
"I think Andy Goode was playing for the club when we won at Gloucester," said Croft.
"After that, we've been at home every time when we made the semi-final.
"There isn't much experience of winning play-offs away from home in today's squad.
"But the quality of players who have played in big games should balance it out.
"The boys who are coming back from being rested last week can hit the ground running. We have been in nine Premiership finals in a row and I think that's a factor for us in the current squad.
"Nobody wants to be the team that lets that record slip."
