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\n The FA Cup final may only be just over a week away now, but Calum McFarlane insists all Chelsea\u2019s thoughts are directed towards Saturday\u2019s Premier League meeting with Liverpool.
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The game at Anfield presents McFarlane and his players with a chance to end our losing streak in the league and ensure we head into that Cup final in better spirits.<\/p>\n
However, McFarlane stressed the Liverpool game is not simply an audition for the following weekend\u2019s final. It is a longstanding rivalry anyway, and there are points up for grabs in our quest to qualify for Europe.<\/p>\n
\u2018We haven’t spoken about the Cup final,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018We’re not looking that far ahead. We’ve spoken about what we have to improve from the previous game [against Nottingham Forest] and looked ahead to the next game.<\/p>\n
\u2018Liverpool are a really good side with a lot of threats that we have to be aware of. We also have a lot of good players, and we’re just focusing on ourselves at the moment and making sure that our performance levels are at a higher level than what they have been.\u2019<\/p>\n
McFarlane said he and his staff have watched lots of the Reds\u2019 matches this season in preparation for the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday, including the reverse fixture which was won courtesy of Estevao Willian<\/a>\u2019s dramatic late goal.<\/p>\n The Brazilian is one of several attacking players unavailable to McFarlane. Pedro Neto<\/a> and Alejandro Garnacho<\/a> are doubts for the game, while Jesse Derry<\/a> and Jamie Gittens<\/a> are definitely ruled out. McFarlane acknowledged he may have to shake things up in that department on Saturday.<\/p>\n He said: \u2018We’re going to have to make up for some of the players we’re missing in different ways, and in the way that we shape the team up, but I don’t want to go into too much detail on that right now.<\/p>\n \u2018What I do know is that we’ve still got a lot of good players that can impact games.\u2019<\/p>\n
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