Darren Ferguson out to shock Chelsea

A sell-out 23,000 Deepdale crowd will see Carlo Ancelotti's side in what is Ferguson's first home game in charge of the Championship club and he believes the wins at Old Trafford and Anfield in round three show that his side have a chance.

Chelsea beat Sunderland 7-2 last weekend and will come to Lancashire in search of another resounding victory, but Ferguson is aiming to pull off another huge surprise. He said: "We are going to have to be at our maximum and Chelsea need to have an off day if we are to have a chance. That is what we hope will happen. You do get certain years where there are shocks in the FA Cup.

"This month Leeds won at Manchester United and Reading went to Liverpool and won. We have to use them as examples and hope we can cause a shock. I don't think we can rely on Chelsea being complacent, that won't happen under Carlo Ancelotti. Instead we have to rely on a really top performance from our lads.

"Looking at those other matches I've talked about, perhaps Reading went to Liverpool at the right time with Liverpool being a bit short on confidence.

"United versus Leeds is a game which takes care of itself and on the day United were very poor. Football is football and Chelsea can't play well every game, that has happened at times this season. But we have to make sure we put in the right kind of performance first and foremost."

Ancelotti is treating Preston with the utmost respect and is sure Ferguson, son of Manchester United's Sir Alex, will have asked his father for some advice.

"I don't know Darren," added the Italian. "It's a good reason to meet him tomorrow. I think it's possible he'll ask his father about us. Like a father, Alex can give him some advice or opinion about our play. That's normal.

"The FA Cup is a very important competition here. There were strange results in the last round and we don't want to have a strange result in this round. It's an important aim for this season and we have to try to win."