McFarlane says Chelsea have not stopped trying despite dismal run

Chelsea interim manager Calum McFarlane does not agree with the idea that his players have stopped trying despite their run of six games losing streak.

McFarlane has been appointed interim manager of the Blues for the second time in the same season after the sacking of Liam Rosenior. He started his second spell with an FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds United before losing to Nottingham Forest 3-1 on Monday.

Chelsea have endured their worst run of league games since 1993, and at Thursday's press conference before their away fixture at Liverpool on Saturday, McFarlane was asked if his players had stopped trying.

"I would not agree with that," he replied.

"The performances haven't been good enough. We are in a really bad run at the moment. The Leeds performance was a glimmer where we thought we could build on that but we weren't able to do that.

"I see these boys every day, every training session, every meeting and in the gym. They are in a good place to go and attack games, we just haven't been able to translate that to the game on Monday so hopefully we can improve that on Saturday."

Chelsea will play the FA Cup final against Manchester City, one week after the Liverpool match, but McFarlane is focused on the current match.

"We have not spoken about the Cup final," McFarlane said.

"We have spoken about what we have to improve on the previous game and looking ahead to the next game.

"We want to turn it around. We know the standards this club has set, we aren't meeting them at the moment."

Chelsea are placed ninth in the Premier League with 48 points, and their slim chance of a Champions League place depends on Aston Villa winning the Europa League and finishing fifth in the English top flight.

That scenario would give the side finishing sixth a place in Europe's premier club competition, and Chelsea are four points off sixth-placed Bournemouth with three matches left.