Watch out Chelsea - We're here for a battle warns Cahill - Sport

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As a proud Aussie raised in the tough suburbs of Sydney and whose first experience of English football was at Millwall, Everton's free-scoring midfielder knows how to stand up for himself.

Mersey Pride: Cahill says Everton are thinking big

An instinct for self preservation came to the surface again as he assessed the state of play in Everton's finely balanced Carling Cup semi-final with Chelsea.

After defying John Mikel Obi's sending off to take a 2-1 first-leg lead with a last-minute own goal from Joleon Lescott, Chelsea's players celebrated as though a Wembley place was theirs for the taking.

Even manager David Moyes admitted that Everton were outsiders to reach the final but 28-year-old Cahill backed his team to rise to the occasion.

He said: '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.

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

'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 transfer fee for the likes of James Beattie, Andy Johnson and Aiyegbeni Yakubu and that is a sign of how we are thinking big.'

Cahill is buoyed by the absence of key Chelsea players but his boss is frustrated that their rivals are able to call on £15million striker Nicolas Anelka, who was still a Bolton player when the first leg was played 15 days ago.

Moyes said: 'What would have happened if we'd been 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? He is not cup-tied and that is the rule. We are just not able to do things like that.'

Moyes has injury doubts over striker Johnson, midfielders Leon Osman and Manuel Fernandes and defender Tony Hibbert