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Chelsea: FA Cup win 'not enough to save season' - Cesar Azpilicueta

Last updated on .From the section Chelseacomments200

Cesar Azpilicueta scores for Chelsea against West Ham
Cesar Azpilicueta scored his fifth Premier League goal for Chelsea against West Ham in his 191st appearance

Winning the FA Cup will not be enough to "save" Chelsea's season, defender Cesar Azpilicueta said after a 1-1 draw with West Ham damaged his club's hopes of a top-four Premier League finish.

Sunday's draw leaves the defending champions 10 points behind Liverpool and Tottenham in third and fourth.

It means they are unlikely to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three years.

"We are further away than ever," Azpilicueta said.

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Former manager Jose Mourinho was sacked during the 2015-16 season, when the then champions finished 10th in the Premier League.

Questions now abound about the future of current boss Antonio Conte, who has presided over a frustrating campaign after winning the title last year.

With six games left, Chelsea can still mathematically reach the Champions League, although that would require a collapse from both Liverpool (who have five games remaining) and Tottenham (who have six games to play).

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Chelsea meet Southampton in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on 22 April, but even if they were to go on and win the competition, it would be scant consolation in the eyes of Azpilicueta.

"The FA Cup is a massive trophy with a lot of history but it's not enough for us," the 28-year-old Spanish defender told BBC Match of the Day.

"We will try to win it but the cup will not save our season."

Azpilicueta, whose first-half goal on Sunday was cancelled out by Javier Hernandez's equaliser in the second half, added: "To get a draw at home in another London derby is really frustrating for all of us and all of the fans. We are not happy.

"What matters is the score at the end, I am frustrated today, we should be able to win this game.

"We controlled the game, we created enough chances to win but we struggled at the end and maybe they could have scored the winner. It's becoming harder and harder every game it goes on."

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200 comments

  • Comment posted by Kerry, at 00:18 9 Apr 2018

    Well done Hammers

    RIP Ray Wilkins, what a smashing fella he was. Chelsea man, played for Man United, played for Glasgow Rangers, being a L’Pool and Celtic man none of those clubs are my cup of tea, but such was the class and decency of the man he was respected by everyone. Loved his commentary on Football Italia, “good afternoon everyone”, on his health it was always “i’m dangerously well”.

  • Comment posted by OGG- OrigiGoalGangsta, at 01:53 9 Apr 2018

    Shame it seems Conte has thrown in the towel, but with all the nonsense written about him all season long, I'm not surprised.

    Winning the FA cup & finishing 5th has been good enough for Arsenal & ManU in recent times, but we're talking about perspective (LvG was also unfortunate too).

    The press hate Conte but I hate the press for their increasingly aggressive sensationalism. Sack them off.

  • Comment posted by Newsworthy1982, at 00:28 9 Apr 2018

    Win league, tank next season, players get manager fired, finish low enough not to play in Europe, new players, new manager.
    Rinse and repeat.
    Grim club.

  • Comment posted by BlueIsTheColour, at 07:17 9 Apr 2018

    Look at the success Chelsea have had over the past 20 years, a couple of bad seasons in amongst that is natural. Look what Tottenham have won over the past 20 years, no wonder they celebrate 4th like a trophy.

  • Comment posted by Flecky, at 05:36 9 Apr 2018

    thank you ray for all the memories. the game was unimportant in comparison

  • Comment posted by Stephen, at 00:59 9 Apr 2018

    11 lol. City and Chelsea fans hate to hear this, but this is what makes you different to the other big boys. Arsenal, Liverpool, Man U, Spurs, they all got their status through FOOTBALL. The money they spend, obscene as it is, comes from the FANS and is the result of decades of building a fanbase by winning trophies. City and Chelsea were not small clubs, but took a shortcut to the top of the tree

  • Comment posted by MOTD, at 23:56 8 Apr 2018

    @1... even if Chelsea had won today and won their game in hand, they would still have been 5 points behind Liverpool so needed 2 Liverpool defeats?

  • Comment posted by FFCWHITE, at 23:48 8 Apr 2018

    Doh ! Doesn't need both Liverpool and Spurs to collapse, just one of them, Hopefully that won't happen !

  • Comment posted by ChopperHarris, at 08:15 9 Apr 2018

    Azpilicueta, Kante and Willian have been our most consistent performers. Hazard, for all his occasional brilliance, has had one eye on Madrid and PSG all season. Courtois has been making noises about returning to Spain ever since he came back from there. Cahill has become a liability, Alonso looks disinterested, Bakayoko is an expensive joke and Morata is an over-rated lightweight.

    Shameful!

  • Comment posted by Only The Truth, at 05:12 9 Apr 2018

    Talking about how many games Liverpool or Spurs drop to let Chelsea in is a bit irrelevant. Chelsea would need to take maximum points from their remaining games and that looks unlikely, the way they are playing.

  • Comment posted by HMS Indifatigable, at 06:55 9 Apr 2018

    Nothing new but still very sad that the MONEY from a 4th place finish is more important than the FA cup. Not the football we grew up with.

  • Comment posted by Jumpers4goalposts, at 06:52 9 Apr 2018

    Last season Chelsea stormed the title and Conte was revered as a genius in his first season. One year on he's mocked by the same press. Same applies to any new and old manager. The longer you manage at the top the sharper the media knives get.

  • Comment posted by Landlova, at 06:32 9 Apr 2018

    Strange that Chelsea player openly critical of his team mates. About time they took responsibility and did something about their poor performance on the pitch.

  • Comment posted by Spurs in HK, at 01:01 9 Apr 2018

    Given the stick Spurs have received the last few seasons, Chelsea’s current run of results presumably makes them a bunch of bottlers.

    Expensive bottlers at that.

  • Comment posted by Phil, at 09:29 9 Apr 2018

    Rather than slagging off the other teams in the top 6/7, why don't we take a moment to revel in the fact that the league is becoming more competitive?

    Only a few years ago, the talk was of the so-called "Big Four" (Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool) monopolising the league.

    Now Man C and Tottenham are established, Leicester won the league and even Burnley are sniffing at Europe!

  • Comment posted by Midster, at 06:00 9 Apr 2018

    Shrug. Shrug. Shrug.

    Us proper Chelsea fans have seen it all before and have thick skins.

    Anti Chelsea can ejaculate. Enjoy yourselves. We'll be back. You know it.

    Shrug shrug shrug

  • Comment posted by TheGMen, at 06:43 9 Apr 2018

    Chelsea need to change business model which gives Coaches no real input on players bought/sold & then firing at the 1st sign of trouble
    There’s no continuity
    Conte will go down in his career as a top class Manager so if he goes (very likely) it’s Chelseas loss.
    As an outsider Chelsea’s buying/selling policy does seem random with some poor buys.
    Keeping Hazard with no CL might be difficult

  • Comment posted by 38 Seconds, at 09:55 9 Apr 2018

    30 years ago, every fan and player in the country would have said winning the FA Cup final at Wembley was worth far more than finishing fourth. Now 'it's not' because there is more money in the 'Champions' league.

    Football never used to be full of fans boasting 'we're richer, bigger, better than you'. Now every HYS is swamped with it. It's horrible. Money and greed destroy everything.

  • Comment posted by Bobbythebrain, at 08:54 9 Apr 2018

    @52 How much has your oligarch spent on his plaything in that time - £1billion and rising? Spurs meanwhile is as run as a business. Net spend in the last 5 years effectively zero; the club has a long term vision. And to all the Chelsea fans complaining about Conte not being backed in the transfer market you have 38 players out on loan. How about developing some of these instead of buying?

  • Comment posted by 90schild, at 08:02 9 Apr 2018

    In 20yrs the fa cup winners of 2018 will be remembered and the team that finishes 2nd 3rd or 4th in the league won't! Fans who think qualifing for the champions league which realistically they won't win the next season if better than winning englands 2nd biggest cup competition are idiots! Success is based on trophies and that's a FACT!

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