It’ll be Taf but we’ll give it a real go...
A WEEK ago, Chelsea looked invincible – but after Tottenham demonstrated the Blues’ mortality in midweek, Ryan Tafazolli believes Peterborough can exploit a chink in the armour today.
Posh are understandably massive underdogs as they head to Stamford Bridge in the Emirates FA Cup third round – they were available at odds as long as 25/1 with some bookmakers to come out on top.
Yet Spurs deservedly beat the Premier League leaders 20 in midweek thanks to a pair of Dele Alli headers – ending a 13game winning streak in the league – and Tafazolli is already dreaming of replicating the England midfielder’s efforts.
“Tottenham scored two headers, so it would be great if I popped up with one myself ! Setpieces are one of our best chances of scoring against them,” said the 25-year-old defender.
“But they’ve been very resilient and resolute in defence and they’ve kept 11 clean sheets in the last 15 games.
“We have to play our own game. You watch
Match of the Day every Saturday night and loads of teams go to Chelsea, sit back and still lose 3-0 – why would we want to do the same?
“We’ll go there and do what we’ve been doing in the last 15 games, which is press high and try to cause them problems.”
Peterborough’s task of breaching the Blues defence will potentially be even tougher with the return of Kurt Zouma – set to make his first start following an 11-month injury lay-off.
But having beaten then League One table-toppers Bolton in November and drawn away at high-flying Scunthorpe last time out, Tafazolli says Posh won’t be overawed.
“We seem to always rise to the occasion against the bigger opposition,” he explained. “Our record against teams higher than us in the league has been very good this season.
“When we’ve played on TV we have also done really well, so hopefully we can put in a good performance.”