Preview: Chelsea - Town
By Aston
January 23 2009
Town’s travel to West London tomorrow, to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup, but you already knew that.
Chelsea will be missing John Terry, who has injured his back. Michael Essien and Joe Cole both have knee injuries while John Mikel Obi is suspended.
Chelsea assistant coach Ray Wilkins: "Ipswich have the fourth-best away record in their division.
"They had a fantastic win at Crystal Palace last week and have players who have played at Premiership level.
"But we're at home and the onus is on us to get after them and make it as uncomfortable for them as we can.
"We got beaten by a better side on the night with Burnley. Then against Southend we couldn't put away the second goal.
"We're back on track, we're in good form and the lads are training especially well."
Town will be without defender Moritz Volz, but David Wright is fit again as in Ben Thatcher. A couple of fringe players will be included in the squad as the cup allows 7 substitutes, but these won't include Jordan Rhodes, Billy Clarke or Jaime Peters who are now all out on-loan.
Town assistant manager John Gorman: "We know we will have fantastic support at Chelsea on Saturday and we are going there to give it a real go, we will have 6000 fans there and don't want to let them down. We want to put on a good show and come away from the game - whatever the result - with our heads held high.
"Burnley have showed what can be achieved by a Championship club this season with their performances in the Carling Cup and Derby did the same and gave Manchester United a real game the other night so it would be nice to follow that.
"We have to be realistic though. Chelsea are a fantastic team and have some wonderful players. I'm a big fan of Frank Lampard's in particular. He's an outstanding player and they have quality right through the side.
"Their spirit looks good as well. I know they left it late against Stoke last week but the fact they kept going right until the 94th minute to get the winner shows you that. Stoke did well in that game but if you looked at the match, Chelsea must have had 30 shots at goal.
"It's an exciting occasion for the supporters and the players are looking forward to the challenge. We have no real pressure on us. It's a big task for us and if I'm honest, the Barnsley game on Tuesday night is the one that really counts.
"That doesn't mean we are not worried about the outcome of the cup tie, of course we are. We are going there to win or at least get a draw but obviously the Championship is our number one goal."
Town: 16/1 to win.
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