“I see ourselves in the same bracket as Chelsea and United now, we are competing on the same level as them, and we have no fear of playing against them.

‘‘This is the sort of game we want.

“They are one of our main rivals and we are one of theirs, so it will be a exciting game that means a lot, and it will be a good ­benchmark for us to judge how far we have come.

“We have Arsenal after that too, but we don’t fear anyone.

“We are not afraid of going to Stamford Bridge. We don’t think we’ll score six like at Old Trafford, because that was even a shock to us.

“But we know if teams don’t apply themselves right against us, we have the capacity to punish them.”

Lescott admits that Man City will have to be on top form when they meet Chelsea tonight at Stamford Bridge, its nights like these that determine who will win the league come May.

“We find increasingly, week-by-week, that teams and people are starting to look at us differently because we are top of the league,” he added.

“The more we keep our unbeaten run going, the more that is going to happen.

“Chelsea will be desperate to end our run and it’s up to us to respond and try to make sure we get something from the game.

“It should be a great game. They have had two really good performances.

“But don’t forget, even though we went out of the Champions League, we go there on the back of a big win over Bayern Munich so we have belief and confidence.”