Our vice-captain Alex Pearce has urged his team-mates to embrace the big game atmosphere at Stamford Bridge tonight.
As a vastly experienced defender who has played at Premier League level in the past, Alex is relishing the opportunity of taking on Chelsea after the Dons brushed aside Coventry in the last round.
“You don't get many opportunities to play at a stadium like Stamford Bridge, I can tell you that first hand,” said Alex. “There's zero pressure on the boys and there's zero pressure on the football club, it's an opportunity to go to a massive club and a fantastic stadium and just enjoy the experience.
“We're going to make it as tough as we can for them. It’s just one of those occasions where, as a player for AFC Wimbledon to go there, it's fantastic. The boys are thoroughly looking forward to it and can't wait really.
“We just want to go there and try and do the right thing. You try and do as many right things as you can within the game and if that makes it difficult for Chelsea, then that's great. I never like to predict results because it's more about performance, and that's what we'll be focusing on.”
Though Alex would love to test himself against the likes Thiago Silva tonight, he will certainly not be in awe of the world-class talents in opposition.
“We'll be focusing on going there and giving a good account of ourselves. Chelsea have got world class players, we're all aware that it’s going to be an extremely tough task but it's not about that, it's about focusing on ourselves and giving the best account of ourselves as we can - I'm sure that the boys won't let themselves or the fans down.
“I am a big fan of Thiago Silva, we play in the same position so for me to be able to potentially play against him, that would be an awesome thing to say, because he’s a legend.
“But again, it's not about going there and idolising these players, you've got to go there and try to go toe to toe with them. It’s going to be a tough challenge and Chelsea have got world class players, but we’ll go there, enjoy it, and see what happens.”
Alex added that he’s honoured to be our vice-captain – and to be a part if a new-look squad that has made an impressive start to the season.
“The manager pulled me to one side before the Wealdstone friendly in the last week of pre-season and told me he was going to be making me vice-captain,” recalled Alex. “It was a great feeling, and I was honoured to accept it. I've got a decent amount of experience behind me in the game and if I can pass that on to any other lads, especially the younger lads, then I'm more than happy to do so.
“There's a decent number of young lads in the group, for someone like myself to give back to those players, I’d be more than happy to do so. They can lean on me with any sort of queries they have about the game and I'm more than happy to help them out."
On our unbeaten start to the league season, Alex said: “The Club did a lot of good work over the summer, they really got to grips with the whole football club. From a player's point of view, we could really see a massive difference from when we first turned up at the Club. We were watching from afar in terms of the work going on, on the recruitment side, over the summer.
“We then all came together in pre-season and had a really good one. The manager outlaid his plans on day one, he said it's going to be a six-week process, everyone's got a clean slate, with no talk of last season. He actually put a ban on anyone talking about last season, which I thought was great. We were all aware that last season wasn't a successful time for us all and last year was quite a negative vibe, so for him to do that got us straight off on the right foot.
“From then on, it was all positive vibes, and we had a really good pre-season, we stayed unbeaten. People say results don't matter in pre-season, and they don't really, but it's still always nice to get good results and to put in good performances. Everyone was really fit and performing well in pre-season, we've just taken that into the season.”