Calum McFarlane is looking back to the start of this year, when Chelsea drew 1-1 with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, as he prepares his side for the FA Cup final. The Chelsea manager, taking charge of the club against City for the 1st time in that match, said the game offered a lesson his team can carry into Saturday.
“I remember that game vividly and it was a really good learning experience,” McFarlane said. Enzo Fernandez scored Chelsea’s stoppage-time equaliser after Malo Gusto put the cross in, and McFarlane said the fight his team showed to get a point left him satisfied. “The fight that we showed in that game, we worked so hard to get that point. I was really pleased at the end – when Malo puts the cross in and Enzo tucks it away – that the players got their rewards for the fight they showed in the second half,” he said.
McFarlane said the first half at City had exposed problems in Chelsea’s preparation. “The first half was tough; we got the prep wrong, and they had a lot of control. We didn't want the game to look the way it did. We had to suffer. We had to run. We had to defend our box really well,” he said. Chelsea responded after the break, and McFarlane said the staff made changes to shift the momentum. “We made some changes in the second half to try and shift the momentum and be a bit more aggressive and get a bit more territory, and it worked in some elements. We got a foothold in the game. But they're a top side. They can punish you at any moment,” he said.
That match has now become part of Chelsea’s final-week planning. McFarlane said he and his staff also watched a more recent defeat at Stamford Bridge, along with other Manchester City games, while preparing for the final. He said the draws at City and Liverpool, together with the semi-final success over Leeds, could offer the pattern Chelsea need to follow if they want to lift the trophy.
He sounded sure of the group he has in front of him. “I'm confident in this group,” McFarlane said. “We have got top players – you saw that on Saturday when we played against Liverpool.” He added that the belief around Chelsea does not rest on one result alone. “There are a lot of things about this team and the players that give you confidence. It’s not just taken from one game,” he said.
For Chelsea, the City draw is more than a memory. It is the clearest reminder that the final may turn on the same things that decided that night in Manchester: resilience when the game tilts away, adjustments after the break and the kind of late composure that can rescue a result when a match looks lost.
