Neil Warnock has instructed his players to sharpen up their spot-kicks as Leeds bid to emulate neighbours Bradford by claiming a high-profile scalp in the Capital One Cup quarter-finals.

The Championship side welcome Chelsea to Elland Road tomorrow night – eight days on from City’s famous penalty shoot-out triumph over Arsenal that booked their place in the semi-finals.

The win was the Bantams’ ninth successive spot-kick triumph and Warnock is full of admiration for their exploits.

Yet he is unsure how much bearing his squad’s extra practice will have on the outcome, even if they manage to take Rafael Benitez’s men to penalties.

Warnock said: “We will be practising penalties. Bradford should be teaching England. Are they English, the players taking them?

“You can’t replicate it in training. I can score every time in training but I couldn’t do it in front of a crowd.

“I never forgot taking one in front of a crowd. I would never, ever shout at someone for missing a penalty because I wouldn’t have the (bottle) to do it.”

Regardless of how long it takes to reach an outcome, Warnock is relishing the kind of eagerly-anticipated clash that used to be a staple for Leeds a decade ago.

He said: “Win or lose, it will be a great night. The whole eyes of the country will be on it because there is nothing else on.

“We are taking on one of the top three clubs in the country and we want to show what a good team we are. I don’t think there will be any moments where you fall asleep watching this game.”

Leeds head into the match in a rich vein of form, having won four of their previous five league games.

By contrast, Chelsea have fallen off the pace set by the two Manchester clubs at the top of the Premier League and are nursing the disappointment of their weekend defeat to Corinthians in the Club World Cup final – not that Warnock feels this will have any bearing on the Blues’ performance.

He explained: “I wanted Chelsea to win the Club World Cup as I have a lot of time for people like (Frank) Lampard. Players like (those at) Chelsea want to win every competition they enter.

“They would be more disappointed to have been knocked out of the Champions League. Chelsea should really still be in the Champions League; so should Man City.”

Warnock must do without on-loan Swansea defender Alan Tate, who is cup-tied, while Lee Peltier and Jerome Thomas may not be risked with one eye on Saturday’s league clash with Middlesbrough.

The Leeds boss said: “Tate is cup-tied and I have got to decide on Thomas and Peltier, who are struggling.

“It’s a big game for Peltier. I don’t want to play him and for him not to play on Saturday.

“He’s a sensible lad. If he’s stiff, I won’t risk him. I want him to play against Middlesbrough.”

Leigh Bromby, Rodolph Austin, Davide Somma and Ramon Nunez all remain sidelined.