"We're in it to win it" - Barry Bannan's bullish message to fans ahead of Sheffield Wednesday's FA Cup clash with Manchester City

The Scottish midfielder spoke about the need for Wednesday to up their game against the reigning English champions but made clear their intention to cause a major upset and book their place in the quarter final of the competition.

The likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling have been touted as likely starters, with City boss Pep Guardiola known for naming strong squads in cup competitions regardless of the opposition faced.

And Bannan reported a changing room raring to go despite ongoing struggles in the league.

“Everyone’s excited,” he said. “This is why you play football, you want to test yourselves against the best in the world.

“These are probably the best team in the world at the minute so we’re looking forward to it, we’ve got nothing to lose.

“We can just go out there and enjoy the occasion and hopefully create an upset.”

And a famous cup shock could serve as a catalyst for an uptick in league form, Bannan said, drawing on the Owls’ record against some of the Championship better sides as inspiration for the challenge ahead.

He said: “The league performances haven’t been good enough so even though it’s Man City we still want to go out there and win the game. It can turn our form around.

“We’re still in the competition, we’ve done unbelievably so far but it’s not just about the performance, we want to be in the next round of the draw as well.

“It’s a big ask but there’s no point going out to play if you don’t think you can get a result.

“If you’ve watched us this season against some of the better teams in the league, we’ve performed pretty well against them.

“That might be down to concentration, rightly or wrongly you tend to concentrate a lot more.

“It’s about us trying to enforce what we’re good at and hopefully trying to take them out of their comfort zone.”