Cahill ready for Chelsea battle

Cahill: Vital to Everton's chances

Tim Cahill expects Everton to rise to the occasion when they face Chelsea in their Carling Cup semi-final second leg on Wednesday.

A late Joleon Lescott own goal in the first leg means that the Toffees trail 2-1 going into the Goodison Park encounter, but despite that result confidence remains high amongst the squad that they can reach their first major cup final in 13 years.

The performance of Australian midfielder Cahill may well be a crucial factor in whether David Moyes' side secure a Wembley date with Tottenham or not, but the player feels that he is ready for the challenge and is positively revelling in the role of the underdog.

Thinking big

"Chelsea will come here full of confidence and think they can walk all over us but they are going to be in for a game. We're all up for it," Cahill said in the Daily Mail.

"It's like when I was at Millwall, we were always written off as underdogs, yet we still went all the way to the FA Cup Final against Manchester United (in 2004).

"Chelsea are a world-class team but the perception of Everton has definitely changed in recent times.

"Over the past three years the club have repeatedly smashed their record for a transfer fee and that is a sign of how we are thinking big."

Frustrating

While Cahill cannot wait to face Avram Grant's side, Toffees boss Moyes is frustrated at the way Chelsea have been able to bring in Nicolas Anelka to boost their numbers at a time when they looked like they may be struggling for attacking options.

"What would have happened if we'd be two or three up and Chelsea had been able to go out and buy three players from the top level and use them in the second leg?

"That's frustrating but what can you do? We are just not able to do things like that."