GARY Cahill reckons Wanderers cannot afford to give Chelsea a head start in their Carling Cup clash tonight.

The centre-half came within inches of completing one of the Whites’ most memorable comebacks in his last trip to Stamford Bridge back in April.

Having trailed 4-0, three goals in eight minutes from Andy O’Brien, Chris Basham and Matt Taylor set up a tense finale, during which Cahill had a late effort deflected narrowly wide of the post.

So as Wanderers prepare to raid West London once more, the young defender has called on his side to tighten up, if they are to progress to the last eight.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb the last time we went down there,” he said. “The character of the team meant we clawed our way back, and then I had one cleared off the line right at the very end at that would have made it 4-4.

“It was an entertaining game and it shows we have nothing to fear this time around. There is no reason why we can’t go there and give it a go.”

Buoyed by some improving league performances, Cahill believes Wanderers head to face the league leaders in the right frame of mind.

“A good result has pushed us above Everton, and we’re 12th in the league now, so we’re looking alright in the table,” he said. “Everyone is looking forward to the Chelsea game now. Cup games have a slightly different feel to them, so you can enjoy it more and see what we can get out of it. We have got them again on Saturday, so we’ll know all about them by then.”

Skipper Kevin Davies is also confident of getting a good result.

“It’s a difficult draw but we have had some good results down there through the years,” he told Wanderers Player.

“We have worked really hard to get there through two tough ties but as the manager said after the Everton game, we must look to go there and win.

“The Everton win was a great confidence booster for us, so we have got to go down there and approach it like it is a league game and look to take something from it.

“They are playing really well and maybe they’ll change a few players. We can use that to our advantage.

“We’ll be there with a strong team, so we have got to look towards getting to the next round.”