Lawrence not troubled by underdog tag

Liam Lawrence shrugged off Pompey's underdog status and insisted: We can triumph at Chelsea.

Michael Appleton’s side travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday in the third round of the FA Cup.

It will be a rematch of the 2010 final at Wembley when Pompey were narrowly defeated 1-0.

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But this time around the Blues are a league below the west London giants and widely given little chance of pulling off a victory.

Encouragingly for Blues fans, Andre Villas-Boas’ side lost 3-1 to Aston Villa in their last home fixture.

They have also won just one of their past five matches and will be without Africa Cup of Nations-bound Didier Drogba on Sunday.

And Lawrence retains the belief he and his team-mates can pull off a shock win.

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Pompey’s skipper said: ‘It’s going to be tough but we are going to go there and give it everything we’ve got.

‘If we can go there, give a good account of ourselves and work hard, you never know what can happen.

‘We are the underdogs, no doubt about that, but we have to go there and hope things go for us on the day.

‘They are not doing as well as they would have liked but have still got world-class players with a good manager.

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‘If we are going to go there at any point in the past few months, I think now would be the time.

‘In the FA Cup, anything can happen – it doesn’t matter if you are from League Two or the Premier League.

‘Some teams go to Anfield and win – at Old Trafford this season Crystal Palace went there and turned them over in the Carling Cup.

‘You never know, we could go there and catch them on an off day.’