Patrick Vieira tells Crystal Palace to expect Chelsea at their best in FA Cup semi-final

Patrick Vieira has warned his Crystal Palace players not to expect anything other than Chelsea’s best in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final despite a challenging week for the Blues.

Thomas Tuchel’s side saw the defence of their Champions League title end at the quarter-final stage in Spain on Tuesday after Real Madrid triumphed 5-4 on aggregate following a back-and-forth encounter at the Bernabeu.

It means Chelsea, who lost the Carabao Cup final to Liverpool in February, only have the FA Cup left to ensure they do not end the season without silverware and bring Roman Abramovich’s trophy-laden era to its conclusion with no further honours.

“Those football clubs, those players aim to win something every year. The FA Cup is what is left on the table and they will give the maximum to go to the end and try to win it,” Vieira insisted.

“I don’t have any doubt, we are talking about top players who won Champions Leagues, World Cups, European competitions, they will not have any mental question about whether they turn up or not.

“If we think that mentally they will be disappointed about the Madrid game or it will have an impact on them, then this is the biggest mistake we can make.”

Vieira, a five-time winner of the competition as a player, knows what it takes to win silverware but again reiterated before Sunday’s showdown that he has not spoken about his past experiences to the Palace squad.

The semi-final tie with Chelsea will be a new experience for the 45-year-old though, with this set to be his first appearance at Wembley as a manager.

While he is proud to be on the verge of standing on the touchline at the national stadium, he feels it would make more sense for last-four clashes to be played at different venues closer to where the