Thursday, February 17, 2011

Coleman relishing Cole challenge


Irish international Séamus Coleman is looking forward to the prospect of going up against Chelsea left back Ashley Cole on Saturday, and hopes to come out on top as Everton look to secure their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Cole is widely regarded as one of the best left backs in the game, and the young Irishman believes these are the kind of challenges you should be enjoying.

Coleman, who made his Ireland international debut against Wales last week, has already pitted his wits against the England man twice this season and can't wait for his next opportunity at Stamford Bridge.

"It's what you want as footballer, you want to play against the best players in the world," Coleman told evertontv.

"I've played against him a couple of times already this season, it's always good to play against him and I go into the game on Saturday hoping to get the upper hand.

"He has a lot of experience, he's played at the top for a long time, he's very fit and he knows the game well, it's very hard to get the ball past him," he added.

"He attacks quite a lot, so me being a right back anyway I like to go back and defend and hopefully if I come up against him I can do well."

Everton go into the Chelsea clash on the back of a disappointing defeat to Bolton on Sunday, but the Donegal born Irish international has urged his teammates to move on from that display.

The Blues have already played out two 1-1 draws with Premier League champions Chelsea this term and Coleman is confident Everton can go one better and set-up a tie with Reading in the last 16.

"We want to forget about Sunday as soon as possible, it wasn't a good enough performance and we all know that," said Coleman.

"Obviously it's a massive game on Saturday in the FA Cup and we go down there hungry to advance in the competition.

"It didn't happen for us, we can't put our finger on why but we want to put it behind us now and get ourselves right again," admitted the Irishman.

"We drew with them, and the game at Goodison in the Cup we probably could have beaten them, so we know they are not unbeatable and we're confident of getting a result.

"We had enough chances to finish it off at Goodison but their 'keeper made a lot of good saves which helped - but we're definitely going there wanting to win."