Chelsea caretaker manager Calum McFarlane says Sunday’s FA Cup final against Manchester City is the club’s last opportunity to salvage something from a disappointing campaign.
The Blues will face Pep Guardiola’s side at Wembley with silverware and a place in European competition next season on the line. Chelsea head into the final in poor league form, though they did manage a 1-1 draw with Liverpool in their last Premier League outing.
Speaking ahead of the match, McFarlane admitted the team’s recent performances have fallen short of expectations. “Yeah, I think our recent form in the league has been way below the standard we’d expect and that we’d shown previously,” he said. “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.”
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McFarlane said his focus is on getting the team to replicate the level of performance shown against Liverpool. “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.”
The caretaker boss also addressed speculation around Chelsea’s next permanent manager, with Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, and Xavi among the names linked to the job. He declined to weigh in, saying his job is to prepare the team for the final.
Responding to Guardiola’s comment that Chelsea have an advantage from not playing midweek, McFarlane said fixture congestion has been a challenge all season. “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.”
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