Chaotic Chelsea need FA Cup win to lift clouds during tumultuous season

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Evening Standard

·4 avril 2026

Chaotic Chelsea need FA Cup win to lift clouds during tumultuous season

Blues desperate to end slump in Port Vale quarter-final tie after Enzo Fernandez saga only adds to problems

Never a dull day. An international break tends to turn the spotlight away from clubs for a little while. Not at Chelsea. Not this time.

These have been rather difficult days for the Chelsea PR machine. A club already battered and bruised by four successive defeats for the first time since 2023 were further kicked while down by inflammatory comments made by key players Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez, criticising the way it is run and the overall direction.

A Premier League record annual pre-tax loss of £262million did not help either, but it was the comments by Fernandez that have really taken the biscuit.

Three weeks on from the Argentine kissing the Chelsea badge after scoring against Paris Saint-Germain, he was throwing his future into significant doubt in separate interviews, stirring the pot and practically inviting an approach from Real Madrid to come and sign him.

That is not how it works. And that is not how any player should operate, particularly when they are the vice-captain and one of very few leaders in the group.

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Fernandez has been dropped for Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final tie against Port Vale and next week’s Premier League clash with title-chasing Manchester City.

Cucurella’s comments were wrapped in greater context, not quite as unprofessional as Fernandez’s public Real flirtation, and so he finds himself available for the Port Vale game.

It is a match where Liam Rosenior has no real need to rotate - because of the free midweek on the way - but every need to ensure his players turn up.

The Valiants are rock bottom of League One and there for the taking but the last round of the competition, where Wrexham forced extra time, is a cautionary tale for the need to switch on and not take lower-league opponents for granted.

Against League One Cardiff in the Carabao Cup quarters in December, Chelsea were bang average and only scraped through.

This is a real chance in a tumultuous season that has involved a change of head coach, plenty of off-field nonsense, and a humiliating exit from the Champions League at the hands of a team who brutally exposed how far off the truly elite sides Chelsea still are.

A date with Wembley, and a morale-boosting semi-final, awaits the Blues if they can put three weeks in the doldrums behind them and climb out of their slump at Stamford Bridge.

The game comes too early for Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah, but Estevao is back available after a hamstring injury.

His guile and ingenuity could be a crucial weapon, not only against Port Vale but during a run-in where qualifying for the Champions League is Chelsea’s primary objective and an already very stern-looking challenge.

Silverware of any sort would be a welcome consolation in the event that they fall short on that front. All the more important to get it right on Saturday and get through.