The Blues head back to Wembley on Saturday for one of English football's showpiece games. We have lifted the famous old trophy on eight previous occasions, with our last triumph in the competition coming in 2018.

It is the first occasion we will face Manchester City in the FA Cup final – and it presents Chelsea with an opportunity to end a challenging season with silverware.

McFarlane, who oversaw our semi-final victory over Leeds United, will lead the Blues out under the famous arch. Our interim head coach has overseen training at Cobham this week and has provided fitness updates on five members of his squad.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, McFarlane confirmed that Colwill, who recently returned to action following a knee ligament injury, and James, who was back in action last weekend after a hamstring issue, have both trained well ahead of this weekend's final.

On James, he explained: 'He's trained well this week; we’re happy with Reece. It was good to get him minutes [against Liverpool] and I felt he played well when he came on. So, it’s largely positive around Reece.

‘In the lead-up to the Liverpool game, we were confident he was able to play those minutes and he came through them well. He's trained well this week and we're really hopeful he can finish the season in that sort of form.'

Colwill started in our 1-1 draw at Anfield last time out; it was the first time he had been named in the starting XI since last summer's Club World Cup final.

The 23-year-old produced an impressive display and McFarlane says he could feature at Wembley against City.

He said: 'Levi's had a really good rehab and, before he played his first game back for us against Nottingham Forest, he played for the Under-21s on two or three occasions.

' So, it’s been a really good training week for Levi and he was exceptional against Liverpool. That speaks a lot about him, being able to produce that sort of performance after that time out, and at a really difficult place.

'He has trained well this week, and we're looking forward to potentially having him on Saturday as well.'

McFarlane was then asked about the fitness of Garnacho and Neto, both of whom were absent from our previous two Premier League games.

He explained: 'Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho have trained well this week, so both looking really good. We’re really hopeful with them as well. So, positive signs.'

Also sidelined for last weekend's clash on Merseyside was Sanchez, who sustained a head injury in our Premier League clash with Forest at the start of this month. McFarlane explained the goalkeeper had returned to training this week and that he could be available on Saturday.

'Really positive,' replied our interim head coach when asked about Sanchez's fitness. 'He has trained well this week and we’re hopeful going into Saturday.'