Interim Chelsea manager Callum McFarlane has a lot of work to do if he wants to help the club win the FA Cup against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Blues have tumbled down the Premier League table over the past few months and now look set to miss out on Europe altogether as they sit ninth on the log.<\/p>\n
That means Chelsea\u2019s only hope of qualifying for Europe lies in winning the FA Cup, which doesn\u2019t bode well, given their horrendous record against City and at Wembley.<\/p>\n
Becoming nine-time FA Cup winners seems like a pipe dream. And as if that\u2019s not enough, McFarlane still has several dilemmas to sort out ahead of the Wembley showpiece.<\/p>\n
Should Reece James start?<\/h3>\n
Chelsea captain Reece James has had another one of his usual stop-start campaigns, but the injury woes have been well-managed this time around.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, he spent the last two months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury before making his return in the 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield.<\/p>\n
James was only on the pitch for about half an hour, but that was enough to show Chelsea what they had been missing in his absence.<\/p>\n
Slotting into midfield for the final 27 minutes, James had 37 touches and won four out of four duels. He also recorded a tackle, an interception, two clearances and four ball recoveries.<\/p>\n
James came through that cameo unscathed, and barring any unfortunate setbacks, he should be in line to make his first start since the 1-0 defeat against Newcastle United in mid-March.<\/p>\n
![\"Will](\"https:\/\/footballtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/fbl-eng-pr-chelsea-tuchel-300x200.jpg\")
<\/div>\nAs one of the most influential players on the roster, naming James in the starting XI is a no-brainer for McFarlane, especially in a game of such magnitude.<\/p>\n
James or Malo Want to play right back?<\/h3>\n
There have been questions about whether McFarlane can afford to start a player who is just returning from injury on such a big occasion.<\/p>\n
However, that\u2019s a moot point considering the Blues are significantly better with James in the team.<\/p>\n
McFarlane has to decide whether to stick the England international at right back or in central midfield alongside Moises Caicedo.<\/p>\n
If James is to start in midfield, Andrey Santos will undoubtedly be the player to make way, having failed to make the most of his opportunity against Liverpool.<\/p>\n
Aside from that, McFarlane admitted that he was impressed with Malo Gusto\u2019s performance, and that kind of praise doesn\u2019t come without any rewards. <\/p>\n
Gusto will likely reprise his role at Wembley, but would need to be at his best as he\u2019d be going up against Jeremy Doku, who has been one of the most in-form wingers in the league over the past few weeks.<\/p>\n
Marc Cucurella or Pedro Neto at left wing?<\/h3>\n
With Chelsea short on attacking options on the flanks, there were questions about how McFarlane would address the issue. <\/p>\n
However, no one expected to see Marc Cucurella line up as a left winger against Liverpool.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard took to his new role like a duck to water, causing the Liverpool backline plenty of problems by constantly running in-behind.<\/p>\n
With Pedro Neto expected to return in time for the FA Cup final, McFarlane has to decide whether to stick with the Spaniard or restore the Portuguese winger to the team.<\/p>\n
![\"Barcelona](\"https:\/\/footballtoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/real-betis-balompie-v-fc-barcelona-laliga-ea-sports-1-300x208.jpg\")
<\/div>\nWhile McFarlane\u2019s experiment helped Cucurella produce one of his best performances in a Chelsea shirt in recent times, he lacked the ruthlessness of a winger.<\/p>\n
That could be the only stumbling block toward repeating that trick, although it\u2019s worth noting that the Spaniard has just three goal contributions since the October international break.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, McFarlane could also weaponise Neto\u2019s pace in behind the Man City rearguard.<\/p>\n
Win with Simba and Football Today<\/h3>\n
Sleep technology company Simba are official TNT Sports partners for their coverage of the Emirates FA Cup and the Adobe Women\u2019s FA Cup in the 2025\/26 season.<\/p>\n
Football Today has teamed up with Simba to give readers the chance to win a\u00a0premium Hybrid mattress.<\/p>\n
To celebrate the partnership, every reader who subscribes to the\u00a0Football Today newsletter\u00a0will automatically be entered into an exclusive prize draw.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s our way of saying thank you for being part of the community while helping you enjoy a better night\u2019s sleep after all the late-night matches.<\/p>\n
Sign up to the newsletter and you\u2019re in with a chance to win. One lucky subscriber will take home a Simba Hybrid mattress, combining cutting-edge sleep technology with exceptional comfort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Interim Chelsea manager Callum McFarlane has a lot of work to do if he wants…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}