Paul Merson: Chelsea good to win Cup double
Paul wrote this in his column on Dailystar:
"They are my tip to win the cup because they’re in such a commanding position in the league and don’t have any other distractions.
If they get past Wolves today they will have a great chance because they’ve hardly lost a game all season and they’ll have Wembley in their sights.
Not being in Europe has really helped them because they’re only really playing once a week and they haven’t had to change their team around.
They haven’t had to rest any of their big players like Diego Costa, Eden Hazard or N’Golo Kante because they’ve not had Champions League football to worry about.
It’s all about the draw in the FA Cup, so they will need some luck, but who is going to challenge them?
Manchester United have taken the cup competitions seriously this season but they are already into one final and they have the Europa League to worry about. The FA Cup might have to be the one to give up because they can’t keep playing their strongest team in so many competitions.
They’re not guaranteed to finish in the top four and they might have to win the Europa League to get into the Champions League.
The FA Cup pales into insignificance compared to that. Manchester City should be there or thereabouts.
I can’t see them losing to Huddersfield but, again, they have the Champions League to distract them.
With Barcelona losing so heavily the other night, Pep Guardiola might fancy his chances of actually winning it. And it might even suit them, and the sort of football he’s trying to play, better than the Premier League does.
I’m not sure foreign managers like Guardiola really get how important the FA Cup is to people here and it certainly won’t be high on his list of priorities.
That’s why Chelsea have such a massive advantage and they should grasp it with both hands. It would be so disappointing to see Antonio Conte make too many changes.
Play your best team, take it seriously. Too many teams are disrespecting the competition and it’s been seven years since Chelsea completed a league and cup Double.
They should be desperate to do it again and this is a massive chance. You would normally say Arsenal will be in the mix too and they might still end up being Chelsea’s biggest challengers for the trophy. An all-London final at Wembley would be a big occasion but Chelsea would be huge favourites because Arsenal are an utter shambles right now.
And they’ve got a real banana skin in Sutton United, who are flying in the competition. I trained with the Sutton players this week for a piece on Sky.
I could have given them some tips but after watching Arsenal get humiliated by Bayern Munich, they don’t need any help from me!
Arsenal should blow them away. If it was a boxing match, it wouldn’t be allowed to go ahead. But even though this is the only trophy he’s really got to go for, Arsene Wenger could easily make 10 changes.
You just don’t know with Arsenal. It’s a massive football match, after what happened in Munich, and it would be an absolute disaster if they lose it"
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