Heading into our Emirates FA Cup fifth round tie on Thursday evening, Alex Mowatt says he and his teammates are relishing the opportunity of taking on Chelsea once again.
Both sides faced off at Stamford Bridge earlier this campaign in the Carabao Cup, with the Blues coming out on top, but our skipper insists Barnsley will pose a sterner test this time around.
“Chelsea are a big team and we’ve already played them once this season, which didn’t go too well,” admitted Mowatt. “But we’ve got another gaffer now, a different way of playing and it’s at Oakwell, which is a lot different to what they’ll be used to, I’m sure. So, hopefully, it can be a different result on Thursday night.
“In that game [in October], I thought we were good for 20 or 25 minutes until the first goal went in. I still think we played some good stuff on that night but, at their place when you go a goal down or two down, it’s very tough to keep the ball and the pitch is unbelievable and it felt massive to us.”
Barnsley have been playing well of late, despite only putting a couple of points on the board in the league, but the FA Cup has proven to be a welcome distraction from the rigours of the Sky Bet Championship.
Opportunities could be few and far between for the Reds against Thomas Tuchel’s side, who have kept three clean sheets in four games under the German. However, Mowatt is confident that anything can happen in this magical competition.
“I don’t think many teams have come here and we’ve not pressed them,” continued the captain. “The only team who was unbelievable against us was Brentford when we didn’t get the press right. Norwich tried to play and we did well against them so, hopefully Chelsea, I know it’s a big opposition but hopefully we can press them and get chances.”
You can watch Alex' press conference on iFollow Barnsley.
