Folks, my first of many oil changes on my "new" 1997 E300D. The filter is stuck on the plastic perch. From many prior experiences, I'd break the plastic perch if I horse on it too hard ( I've busted too may things in the past by brute strngth.)

Is there a trick to this?

I'm setting out to literally cut the filter off the perch unless y'all have some voodoo magic to share.

THNX!