Knott: I have nothing to prove

Bradford midfielder Billy Knott insists he has nothing to prove when he returns to Chelsea on Saturday in the FA Cup fourth round.

The 22-year-old is one of two Bradford players who started out at Chelsea before forging a career away from west London - City winger Filipe Morais is the other - but the West Ham fan has no axe to grind with the Premier League giants. The League One club will showcase their giant-killing capabilities again after knocking out Championship side Millwall in a third-round replay, two years after grabbing national attention when reaching the Capital One Cup final, and Knott is relishing the challenge. "Obviously I'm excited because they're one of the best teams in Europe but I don't think I'll be going back there with anything to prove," he said. Knott spent four years at Stamford Bridge from the age of 12 before getting a second chance at Sunderland. He made only one first-team appearance for the Black Cats before securing a move to Bradford last summer, but has thrived this season under boss Phil Parkinson. "I was only young when I was at Chelsea," Knott said. "I didn't mature quick enough and when I left I realised you have to mature quickly in football. "I didn't take that on board at Chelsea. When I went to Sunderland I think I started to grow up quickly. "When I was at Chelsea the technical and tactical side of the game improved me massively and I'm obviously thankful for that. "But there's not a lot of people still there who were around when I was. There's a few of the staff, but not a lot of the players so I think I'll be going back there to enjoy the game and, hopefully, helping to create an upset. "Chelsea pop up everywhere because they're flying at the moment, but I don't go out of my way to look out for their results or anything. West Ham are my club." Knott, no stranger to the big arena having appeared for England Under-20s against Argentina in Colombia in front of 40,000 at the Under-20s World Cup two years ago, will come up against Eden Hazard, a player he feels is ready to establish himself as one of the world's best, and his current favourite, Cesc Fabregas. "Hazard's quality on the ball is unbelievable," he added. "He will be up there with the best in the world soon, he's a fantastic player and there's Cesc Fabregas. "Fabregas is probably my favourite player at the moment. He's unbelievable with the assists he's getting and the way he moves the ball is a delight to watch. "But we'll be going there to knock them down. We want to upset them and hopefully they'll all have an off day. "You admire and respect them as players, but at the end of the day you want it to be your name and your team in the paper the next day. "You don't want to see a headline like 'Cesc Fabregas tears City apart'. So we've got to stick together, they'll get the respect that they deserve but we've got to put them off their game."