Calum McFarlane provides fitness update on 3 key Chelsea stars ahead of FA Cup final against Manchester City

Chelsea interim coach Calum McFarlane has provided injury updates on 3 important Chelsea stars ahead of their FA Cup final clash against Manchester City on May 16 (Saturday).

Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho missed Chelsea’s loss to Nottingham Forest and the 1-1 draw against Liverpool due to knocks picked up before the home game against Forest. Robert Sanchez missed the Blues’ draw against Liverpool after a collision with Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White.

Speaking in a press conference before the important final against Manchester City, McFarlane claimed all the players could be available for the clash at Wembley. He said (via football.london):

“Pedro Neto and Ale Garnacho have trained well this week. Looking hopeful for them.

“(Sanchez is the) same news as the other lads. So it’s really positive and we’re hopeful looking into Saturday.”

McFarlane then spoke about Reece James and Levi Colwill, who recently returned from injury and played a key role in Chelsea’s draw against Liverpool. He said:

“Yeah, he’s trained well this week. Happy with Reece. Good to get him some minutes before he played well when he came on as well. So, yeah, largely positive around Reece.”

On Colwill, he said:

“Same sort of story. He has a really good rehab. He’d played a few games before. He played for us against Forest. I think his first game back was he played for the 21s two or three times. So, again, a really good training week for Levi. He was exceptional against Liverpool. So, again, we’re really hopeful.”

Chelsea currently sits in ninth place on the Premier League table with 49 points in 36 games played, 2 points behind eighth-place Brentford. Mathematically, they can’t finish in the top 5 to guarantee a UEFA Champions League spot next season. By their own standards, The Blues have had a very poor season and will look to finish the season on a high with an FA Cup win.

McFarlane responds when asked if Chelsea have an advantage over Manchester City ahead of FA Cup final

Speaking before the game, Pep Guardiola claimed Chelsea had an advantage over Man City as they had no midweek game before the clash. When asked about it, McFarlane claimed he was only focused on the Blues and his team need to be at their best to win the trophy:

“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, irrelevant if they’ve had a triple game week or not, so that’s what we’re focused on.”