Chelsea caretaker manager, Calum McFarlane, has admitted that the club’s FA Cup final against Manchester City on Sunday is their only chance to salvage something from the season.
The Blues will face Manchester City at Wembley for a chance to win silverware and secure a spot in Europe next season.
Going into the game, Chelsea have endured a poor run of form but managed to hold Liverpool to a 1-1 draw in the Premier League on Sunday.
Ahead of the game, the Blues coach was asked if this was their only chance to finish the season with something meaningful.
“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.”
He also spoke about who could become Chelsea’s next manager. The likes of Xabi Alonso, former midfielder Cesc Fabregas, and Xavi have all been mentioned as possible permanent bosses for the Blues.
Asked if Chelsea fans should be excited about some of the names being linked with the vacant job, the Englishman 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 boss Pep Guardiola said Chelsea will have an advantage because they do not have a game this week.
Responding to that, 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.”
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