Branislav Ivanovic says Chelsea performance against PSG will strike fear into Manchester City

Warning shot: Chelsea put in one of their best performances of the season against Manchester City
Simon Johnson19 February 2016

Branislav Ivanovic believes Manchester City will be worried about facing Chelsea in the FA Cup on Sunday after their performance against Paris Saint Germain in midweek.

Chelsea gave the French champions, who have not lost at home all season, a major scare in the first leg of their last 16 Champions League tie before slipping to a narrow 2-1 defeat.

It was one of the club's best performances of the season and Ivanovic feels they are in the kind of form to beat Manchester City to a place in the quarter-finals.

He told Standard Sport: "The PSG game set us up for Manchester City, which is a very difficult and dangerous match for us. It is important for us to be fully concentrated but relaxed at the same time.

PSG vs Chelsea: Player Ratings

1/23

"But we showed against PSG that we can play at a high level against a very good team and that has given us confidence. We showed we can compete against the best teams in Europe.

"It was particularly good because in the first 15 minutes we were a bit sloppy and were scared, but then the team grew.

"We deserved more out of it, but we learned a lot. It was very positive, but it just showed how an opponent can punish every little mistake you make.

"Now we must forget the PSG game, the next leg is in a few weeks and it's all about the FA Cup.

"The only way you can get better is if you just prepare for each game on its own merits. It looks like every match for the rest of the season will be like a final now, but we can't look too far ahead."

Manchester City are set to field a weakened side having expressed their anger over the timing of the fixture.

The contest is taking place at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon, just three days before they play at Dynamo Kiev in their Champions League clash.

But Ivanovic doesn't have much sympathy having had to experience similar issues with Chelsea in the past.

He added: "It will be hard for them to play in the Champions League so soon after playing against us, but when you are a big club challenging for trophies it is normal to be in this position. You just have to be focussed and ready for that."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in