The Blues are bidding to reach our 17th FA Cup final this afternoon, where Manchester City lie in wait after they overcame Southampton yesterday.

McFarlane is back in the Chelsea dugout for this afternoon's game and has made three changes to the side that began our Premier League fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion in midweek.

Tosin Adarabioyo has come into the defence while Alejandro Garnacho and Joao Pedro return to the Blues attack, and McFarlane has outlined the reasons behind those alterations.

He said: ‘It’s great to have Joao back. I thought Liam (Delap) did a good job in the previous two games, but we’ve gone with Joao today and we’ve got two really good options.

'Ale has got talent, and he has scored twice in his previous two games at Wembley. So we’re hoping he can repeat that form and has shown at times this season he has that level.’

Palmer missed our midweek trip to the Amex Stadium but is included in the match-day squad, and McFarlane says the England international will be deployed at some point during the 90 minutes at Wembley.

He explained: ‘It was close [to Palmer starting]. We decided it would probably be best for him to be on the bench.

'He is ready to play, so we’re definitely going to use him at some point, but it made more sense to have him starting on the bench today.’