Calum McFarlane is “hopeful” that Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho and Robert Sanchez will be fit to face Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup Final.
Neto and Garnacho picked up knocks in training the day before last week’s home defeat to Nottingham Forest McFarlane indicated after the 1-1 draw with Liverpool five days later that he was hopeful the pair would return to training ahead of featuring in the FA Cup final.
Also absent from both games was goalkeeper Sanchez, who has been sidelined since suffering a clash of heads with Morgan Gibbs-White during the Stamford Bridge loss. While the injury did not go down as a concussion substitution, the goalkeeper still missed the Anfield stalemate five days later.
Asked for an update on Thursday afternoon, McFarlane said: “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."
The trio’s return is a huge boost for Chelsea, who deployed Marc Cucurella in an advanced left-wing role against Liverpool.
The defender produced a man-of-the-match at Anfield, but will be required in his traditional defensive role against City at Wembley.
Levi Colwill is another who earned plaudits for his performance against Liverpool, made even more impressive as it was his first start since the Club World Cup final last summer.
Asked about Colwill’s reaction to the start, McFarlane confirmed: “He's had a really good rehab. Again, a really good training week.”
