Mauricio Pochettino said it is “impossible” for Chelsea to think of themselves as underdogs as he prepares for the daunting task of taking on Premier League champions Manchester City.
Tenth-place Chelsea have a terrible recent record against City — losing the past six games in all competitions without scoring a single goal.
But they go into Sunday’s match at Stamford Bridge lifted by a dramatic 4-1 victory against nine-man Tottenham earlier this week.
Pochettino, in his first season in charge at Chelsea, had high praise for City boss Pep Guardiola and the club as a whole at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“For me they are the best team, have the best coaching staff and the best manager,” he said. “We need to tell the truth — it is one of the best organisations in the world.
“When you have the results you are showing it’s because from the top to the bottom you are doing things really, really well.”
But the Argentine said his team had shown in their match against high-flying Spurs that they had the talent and character to compete with the top clubs.
“Chelsea never have that feeling of being an underdog,” he said. “The feeling is always ‘you are Chelsea’. It is impossible, the history is there. (But) I think we cannot go and say ‘we are the big team of the day’ on Sunday.
“We need to go there trying to be protagonists, with our personality, with our character.”
