The Blues head to Wembley Stadium looking to secure a passage to the FA Cup final next month, with Leeds – the side we defeated in 1970 to lift the competition for the first time in our history – standing in our way.

McFarlane was on media duties on Friday afternoon, following the announcement he would take charge of the side as interim head coach for the remainder of the campaign following the departure of Liam Rosenior in the week.

He delivered a positive update on Joao Pedro and Palmer ahead of the semi-final at the national stadium on Sunday, but began by confirming the unfortunate news that the hamstring injury that forced Estevao off against Manchester United recently will rule the Brazilian out for the remainder of the season.

‘Estevao unfortunately won’t play for us this season,’ Calum stated during the press conference at Cobham. ‘He will be out for a little bit of time.

‘We’re not sure how long he will be out for but he certainly won’t play for us again this season, unfortunately.

‘That’s really unfortunate for him, especially for someone so young and talented as he is but we are here to support him and be around him.

‘With Joao and Cole, they both trained today and are in a good place. We don’t know yet [whether they can feature on Sunday], but we have another day tomorrow to have a look at them and then make a call on them.

‘But we hope so [they can be involved], but it’s important we give them time. We are going to train tomorrow, they will both be involved and we will make a call on them after that session.’

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