It might not save manager Antonio Conte\u2019s job but Chelsea can still salvage a disappointing season by winning Saturday\u2019s FA Cup final against Manchester United, says captain Gary Cahill.<\/p>\n
A year ago Conte\u2019s team went into the Wembley showpiece against Arsenal as Premier League champions and were one win away from completing the double in the Italian\u2019s first season.<\/p>\n
While a 2-1 defeat by the Gunners stung it was not considered the end of the world. A similar outcome on Saturday, however, would be unpalatable for the Blues.<\/p>\n
They finished the Premier League season in fifth place, 30 points behind champions Manchester City, and will have no Champions League football to look forward to in September.<\/p>\n
For Cahill it has been an especially trying campaign with poor form resulting in him losing his place at various stages of the season and falling down the England pecking order. But victory on Saturday would represent a silver lining.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast season in the Cup final we didn\u2019t switch off. We just had a relaxed atmosphere,\u201d Cahill told reporters at Chelsea\u2019s FA Cup final media day. \u201cWe went into it thinking with our momentum we could just deliver like we did for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a different kind of feeling. This is like we are going into it to save the season. We\u2019ve fallen short in other competitions but we haven\u2019t fallen short in this one yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rise of the Champions League has made finishing in the Premier League\u2019s top four spots imperative for England\u2019s biggest clubs, both because of the income it generates and the showcase it provides to attract top signings.<\/p>\n
Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said this month that finishing in the top four meant more than winning a trophy.
\nCahill begs to differ.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t tell me the FA Cup isn\u2019t ranked high. You are talking to the wrong fella,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe if you talk to some of the other boys\u2026The FA Cup ranks as high as you like. It\u2019s right under winning the league for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve grown up around it. It\u2019s an opportunity to win the final. It\u2019s like if you are in the top four and qualify for the Champions League for seven or eight years, but don\u2019t win any trophies. Would you swap that for what we\u2019ve done?<\/p>\n
With Conte widely-expected to move on in the close-season there has been an air of uncertainty around the club in recent months.<\/p>\n
If Saturday\u2019s clash is to be his last game Cahill wants to make sure Conte\u2019s reign ends on a high.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a strange season,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s been speculation here, there and everywhere. There has been all sorts of different things. It\u2019s entertaining!<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can win the Cup and finish on a high.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cahill has endured a difficult season on the pitch and is by no means a certainty to start Saturday\u2019s final.<\/p>\n
His patchy form has also put his place in England\u2019s World Cup squad, which is announced on Wednesday, in jeopardy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It might not save manager Antonio Conte\u2019s job but Chelsea can still salvage a disappointing season by winning Saturday\u2019s FA Cup final against Manchester United, says captain Gary Cahill. A year ago Conte\u2019s team went into the Wembley showpiece against Arsenal as Premier League champions and were one win away from completing the double in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31170,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31168\/revisions\/31170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}