New York, July 13 (IANS) As the reigning Champions League holders, Paris Saint-Germain go into Sunday’s Club World Cup final as the favourites, Reece James insists the Chelsea players are ready to ‘surprise a lot of people’.

PSG were already one of the favourites heading into this tournament but their resounding 4-0 victory over Real Madrid in the semi-final has just increased the tag even further.

However, Chelsea will go into the final full of confidence. The Blues have won 13 of the last 15 matches in all competitions, losing only at Newcastle and to Flamengo, when they were reduced to ten men.

Enzo Maresca’s side has recorded seven clean sheets during this period, qualified for the Champions League and won the Conference League on their way to the Club World Cup final.

“We are expecting a tough game, don’t get me wrong, they’re an amazing team, but we are an amazing team and I think we will surprise a lot of people. We have come a long way in our journey from where we started, and we are all looking forward to the game,” said James to Chelsea’s media team.

Chelsea have created more attempts on goal than any other side in the tournament and have scored the second-highest total (14), with only PSG, Bayern Munich and Manchester City finding the net more times (16).

With PSG scoring the most and conceding the least, it is hardly a surprise Luiz Enrique’s side is favourites but it won’t change much about the way the Blues prepare for this clash, as explained by James.

“Stats, data, favourites, not favourites, it doesn’t mean much to me or the team. It is something that makes other people happy. This is two great young sides playing against each other on the biggest stage and we are going to go toe-to-toe,” James stated.

When asked how the team will prepare, James added, “I think we will prepare as if we’re playing another game. It’s a final, but we prepare every game like we want to win.”

–IANS

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