Chelsea up for the cup, warns Terry

John Terry has warned Chelsea's rivals to underestimate the Londoners at their peril as the club's defence of their FA Cup pits them against Everton.

Saturday's fourth round tie sees Terry and his team-mates travel to Merseyside having been all but written off as Premier League title contenders after a protracted form slump.

But Terry has warned the club's critics that a winning mentality is still present in Carlo Ancelotti's squad, with the England defender also insisting that key players were not yet too old to win further silverware.

"Towards the end of last season we showed great experience with the players we have and three months later I read an awful lot of things saying we are all too old," Terry said.

"But we have players who are 30, 31, 32 and we have the young blood coming through. We have a great mix of players and one thing you can't take away is the winning mentality."

A run of just two wins in 11 games in all competitions between the middle of November and the start of January was the basis for the critics' dismissals of their credentials but Chelsea face Everton having won their last three games.

All were won convincingly too, with a 7-0 FA Cup third round thrashing of Ipswich Town followed by Premier League successes against Blackburn Rovers, which finished 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, and Bolton, who were beaten 4-0 in front of their own supporters earlier in the week.

"Before the Bolton game everyone was quietly confident," Terry continued. "We were reading that nobody fears us anymore but people don't fear us at their peril.

"We have some tough games coming up. We go to Everton in the FA Cup and Sunderland away in the league.

"Sunderland are playing really well, Everton are in and out of form but against the big sides, especially at home, they do tend to raise it so it is going to be a big test for us, but we are certainly up for the fight and we won't give up."

Everton will be confident of progressing however, not least because they have done well against Chelsea in the past two seasons.

A late equaliser from substitute Jermaine Beckford earned them a 1-1 draw in the Premier League in December and last season in the same competition they beat Chelsea 2-1 at home after sharing a 3-3 draw in London.

With South Africa international Steven Pienaar having left the club - the midfielder turned down Chelsea to join Tottenham - manager David Moyes may feel his chances of success have been diminished.

But Russia international Diniyar Bilyaletdinov has made it clear he wants to fill the gap having been allowed just three starts so far this season.

The 25-year-old, who came off the bench to score in the 2-2 draw with West Ham last weekend, declared: "With the exit of Pienaar I will have more chances and I am going to take a tight grip on them.

"But at the same time I do not want my return to the squad connected only with the other man's exit. I feel hurt a bit. There are weeks when I fly in training, the coach speaks highly of me, but still I am not in the team.

"At such moments I try to focus on something positive, force myself to work even harder - for the future.

"The realisation that I am training in great conditions, in a strong team, participating in the strongest European league helps me."

u00a0