Knott spent the formative years of his career learning his trade at the Blues’ Cobham academy, regularly rubbing shoulders with some of the game’s biggest stars in training.
Chelsea v Bradford City
The FA Cup
Fourth Round Proper
3pm, Saturday 24 January 2015
Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FC
Winners receive £90,000 from prize fund
The Canvey Island-born midfielder was with Chelsea since the age of 14 and a regular in their youth and reserve teams, before he left for Sunderland in 2011.
Since then, he’s been loaned to the likes of AFC Wimbledon, Woking, Wycombe Wanderers and Port Vale before finding a permanent home at Valley Parade last summer.
And the 22-year-old was instrumental in setting up Bradford’s trip to south west London this weekend, by scoring three goals over their two games with Millwall in the Third Round Proper.
"I think I kept my family up almost all night talking about this game after the Millwall match," revealed Knott, who netted Bradford’s second goal in their 4-0 replay victory last Wednesday after also scoring in the 3-3 draw at the Den two weeks ago.
"I was at Chelsea when I was a youngster so it will be good to go back there.
"We had a great win over Millwall to get to this stage and it is going to be a great day out for all involved.
"Everybody in the squad, even those on the bench, will be giving it 100% and we'll be going there hoping that we can even cause an upset."
Knott in action for England against Argentina in front of a 45,000 crowd in Medellin at the 2011 World Cup in Colombia
Knott was highly-rated during his spell with Chelsea, captaining the club’s academy sides and representing England at U16 and U17 level.
He also tasted a World Cup, as part of the England U20s squad which travelled to Colombia in 2011 playing games against the likes of Argentina, Mexico and Nigeria in front of huge crowds in South America.
So he’s been no stranger to facing top class opponents in his short career so far and is now ready to test himself against the best again.
"As everyone knows, Chelsea are Chelsea - they will always have world class players available to them," he added.
"They probably have some of the best players in the world in their team.
"But everybody in the starting eleven and on the bench will be giving it their all to push them as far as we can.
"It will be a great day out for all of the fans regardless of the result, however, and we're all looking forward to it."
Watch highlights of Bradford's win over Millwall in the Third Round Proper
