Domestic form will not be a factor when Chelsea meet Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16, according to the Blues' club secretary David Barnard.
Chelsea have been pitted against the Ligue 1 champions for the third successive year in the knockout stage of Europe's elite club competition, after manager Jose Mourinho said last week that Laurent Blanc's men were the opponents he wanted to avoid in the round of 16.
PSG, 17 points clear at the top of Ligue 1, will go into the tie as favourites regardless of whether Chelsea recover from a nightmare start to the Premier League season that has seen them lose eight of their first 15 matches between now and the first leg at Parc des Princes on Feb. 16.
But Barnard insists how Chelsea fare against the French giants will depend more on whether they rise to the occasion of the tie than their wider struggles.
"It's a knockout game and it depends on the form of the two teams over those two legs," he told BT Sport. "I don't think you can take league form into it. They said that about us just before the Porto game, that our form was bad, but we saw the quality of players we had and we came through with no problems at all."
PSG emerged victorious on away goals at the same stage of last season's Champions League, claiming a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge despite twice trailing and playing the majority of the match with 10 men to avenge their quarterfinal exit to Chelsea the previous season.
"This is a team that we know very well because we played them at this stage last season," Barnard added. "Unfortunately we went out on away goals to an ex-player, David Luiz, but the year before we played them in the quarterfinals, so it's even stevens. There's no trepidation because we know them."
Meanwhile, PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi is confident that his club can repeat their success of last season by seeing off Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League.
On Monday the two sides were drawn to face each in the knockout stages of the competition for a third consecutive year.
Having added Angel Di Maria over the summer and hammered Lyon 5-1 on Sunday, the runaway Ligue 1 leaders look even stronger than last season.
"As I've already said, we should be capable of winning against all the teams and going as far as possible in the competition," Al-Khelaifi said.
"They're a great team who have already won the Champions League. We have a lot of respect for them.
"We're playing Chelsea for a third year -- it's become a sort of a 'classic' [Classique -- PSG's big domestic rivalry with Marseille] for us.
"I'm delighted for the fans who are going to see big matches at the Parc des Princes and at Stamford Bridge. We will be ready."
Sporting director Olivier Letang said: "We're going to play against a formidable team, who won the Champions League in 2012 and the Europa League after that.
"The last two encounters against Chelsea were difficult -- these meetings are often balanced. The two teams know each other very well, with squads that have changed very little.
"But as the president reminds us, our ambition is to go very far in this competition -- we will be ready for these matches.
On Brazil defender Luiz facing his former club, Letang added: "He was decisive last season but it was above all a team win. Everyone will have to be on top of their game to go and qualify at Chelsea [in the second leg]."