DOUGIE Freedman is urging his less experienced team-mates to treat Saturday’s trip to Chelsea as just another game.

The 34-year-old Shrimpers striker has wracked up more than 550 appearances during his lengthy career.

And he is therefore well equipped on how to handle such a big occasion.

“You just how to approach it like you would any other game,” Freedman told the Echo.

“You need to do what you would normally do for a league game and eat the same pre-match meal, do the same warm up and just do everything exactly the same.

“It’s obviously easier said than done when you’re about to play a team like Chelsea but that’s the main piece of advice I will be giving to the younger players in the team.

“They also have to make sure they enjoy it.”

Freedman also knows what to expect this weekend having previously played twice against the Londoners.

In January 2000 he was part of a Nottingham Forest side which lost 2-0 at Stamford Bridge and five years later he came on as a substitute as Crystal Palace suffered a 4-1 defeat at the same venue.

“I’ve played at Chelsea before and it’s a great place to go and test yourself,” said the Scotsman who has bagged four goals in seven games since signing for the Shrimpers.

“The club has grown massively over the last 15 years or so because when I first came to England from Glasgow I joined QPR and at that time they were of a similar size to Chelsea.

“The league positions and crowds were virtually the same but now Chelsea are one of the biggest clubs in the world.

“They almost won the Champions League last summer and they’ve won a couple of Premier League titles in the last few years as well.

“They are now a massive club and it’s totally different to when I first came over here.”

That rapid progress makes the Shrimpers’ task even harder this Saturday.

And Freedman knows the current Chelsea side will not take Southend lightly.

“They are top players and they just don’t do that,” he insisted.

“They wouldn’t have got to a club like Chelsea if they did but we need to work as hard as we can and give it our best shot.

“When the game starts we aren’t going to suddenly become the best team in the world but we want to give a good account of ourselves.”