Calum McFarlane said defender Levi Colwill is on course to start next Saturday's FA Cup final against Manchester City after helping Chelsea earn a 1-1 draw at Liverpool in his first 90 minutes since suffering a pre-season cruciate ligament injury.
Colwill, 23, had not started a game for Chelsea since last July's FIFA Club World Cup final win against Paris Saint-Germain in New Jersey with the England international sustaining his injury while training a month later.
But after making his first appearance of the season in last Monday's 3-1 Stamford Bridge defeat against Nottingham Forest, Colwill played the full 90 minutes at Anfield on Saturday and interim coach McFarlane said is now a contender to start against City at Wembley next week.
"I thought he [Colwill] was exceptional," McFarlane told reporters. "I thought there were a lot of good performances, but I was really pleased for Levi. To come to a place like Anfield, facing Liverpool away with a team that has not had much form recently really shows his talent, quality and his mentality.
"The Cup Final? Definitely [he has a chance]. And we are hopeful that [Alejandro] Garnacho and [Pedro] Neto will be available next week too. We will look to get them back on the training pitch this week and take it day-by-day, so fingers crossed."
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Chelsea ended a six-game Premier League losing streak and avoided their worst losing run since 1952 by claiming a point at Anfield.
But McFarlane said that the result is only marginally positive due to Chelsea's failure to win. "This club needs to win games of football and we haven't done that," he said.
"We are not happy with the form. "It is nice to have a complete performance, but it would have been better with the win."
