Chesterfield boss James Rowe 'admires' Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel

German Tuchel, 48, who took over at Chelsea almost a year ago, has won major trophies in Germany, France and England, including last season’s Champions League.

“It is exciting for me to go up against Thomas,” Rowe said. “His background is similar to mine in terms of giving up playing in his 20s because of an injury.

"I don’t like to concentrate on the resources he has got.

"He is a peer who is working at the top of the field that I work in so I have a lot of admiration for Thomas and hopefully I will get some time to sit down and talk to him and ask him a few questions and learn what I can. There is no better learning than actually going up against a peer like this.

"His win ratios, the trophies he has won, it is a credit to him and his staff.

“I am really excited personally but it is not about me. The club has really turned a corner and this is just a marker of that.”

The task Chesterfield face to beat the Champions League holders ‘hit home’ earlier this week, Rowe says, when he went about preparing his game plan.

Town will have to put in a near perfect performance if they are to shock the Premier League giants.

He explained: "Trapping the space will be hard for us but I am sure we can give a good account of ourselves and hopefully we take the most of our moments because we will have moments in the game.

“We have got to be realistic, the moments we have in the game will be minimal so that means we have got to be more ruthless when we get the opportunities.

“Both boxes will matter as usual. The only influence we can have on the game will be ultimately how we do out of possession, we have to be realistic.

“But we have a way, we have been working on it the last few days now.

“We are going there to win the game."