After a tumultuous 107 days in charge of Chelsea, Liam Rosenior was finally relieved of his duties after the management could not continue to back him any further after the loss to Brighton. It made it five in a row in the Premier League without scoring a goal. Now, the FA Cup is their only hope of winning any silverware this season.
Chelsea are now placed eighth in the league table and their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League are slim to none. They are 10 points adrift of fifth-placed Aston Villa.
Calum McFarlane will now take charge at the wheel for the remainder of the season. He is known for his direct and intensive approach and was previously in charge of the Blues for two games before the arrival of Rosenior back in January.
The McFarlane-led Chelsea side was able to bring back a point from the Etihad as Enzo Fernandez scored in added time to make it 1-1 against Manchester City. Then they lost to Fulham in the very next game. So, it is hard to know what to expect.
Chelsea Predict XI vs Leeds United
The 38-year-old manager could decide to make quite a few changes to his starting XI when the team face Leeds United in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. Here is how we think the Blues will line up:
GK: Robert Sanchez
No points for guessing who will be starting in goal for Chelsea. The Spaniard has his fair share of critics but he is pretty much an automatic pick with Filip Jorgensen out recovering from an injury.
DEF: Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella
The defence has let Chelsea down time and again this season. That being said, McFarlane does not have too many options to experiment.
MID: Andrey Santos, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez
Santos was one of the players who benefited from Rosenior’s appointment. That being said, he could retain his place in the team even under McFarlane. The Brazilian could be in the double pivot with Caicedo while Fernandez plays as the number 10.
FOR: Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro, Pedro Neto
There is no certainty that either Palmer or Pedro will be fit to start this game. They missed out against Brighton. But they did return to training, which is a positive sign. Expect Neto to start on the left, with Estevao out for the season.
