McFarlane: FA Cup Final Is Chelsea’s Last Hope This Season

Chelsea caretaker manager Calum McFarlane said the club’s FA Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday is their only chance to salvage the season.

The Blues will play Manchester City at Wembley, with a trophy and a European berth on the line.

Before the final, Chelsea had struggled in recent matches but had secured a 1‑1 draw against Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday.

When asked whether this match represented the only opportunity to finish the season on a positive note, the Blues coach replied:

“Yeah, I think our recent form in the league has been way below the standard we’d expect and that we’d shown previously. It’s an FA Cup final, so we want to win it. It’s a massive competition, a prestigious competition, and the club has history in it as well, having won it eight times. So, yeah, our focus is on that, performing as well as we can against a top side,” he said.

He added, “I’m confident that we’ll get a similar level, hopefully a similar level of performance, to what we got at Liverpool. I thought we ticked a lot of boxes in that game in terms of what we want from this team and how we get the best version of it. So, I’m confident that we can get that again.”

McFarlane also discussed potential successors for the managerial vacancy, noting that Xabi Alonso, former midfielder Cesc Fabregas, and Xavi have been mentioned as candidates.

When asked whether fans should be excited about the names linked to the vacancy, he said, “Yeah, there’s a lot of names linked with the job. It’s not really my place to say who’s going to get it, who should get it, who’s a good manager, or who’s not a good manager. My job is to prepare the team for Saturday and that’s all I’ll be focusing on.”

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola suggested that Chelsea would benefit from having no fixtures this week.

In reply, Calum said, “Yeah, it’s tough when you have a game midweek and you have a triple game week. It’s tough. We’ve had a lot of them this year, but we’re focused on ourselves, we’re focused on how we prepare. We’re playing against an excellent side and an excellent coach, so we need to be at our best, regardless of whether they’ve had a triple game week or not. That’s what we’re focused on.”