Chelsea interim manager Calum McFarlane has rejected suggestions that his players have stopped trying despite a six-match losing streak in the league that has all but ended their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

McFarlane, who returned for a second spell in charge this season following the dismissal of Liam Rosenior, initially enjoyed a positive start with an FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds United. However, Chelsea quickly fell back into poor form, suffering a 3-1 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on Monday.

The result marked Chelsea’s worst run of league form since 1993. Ahead of Saturday’s away match against Liverpool, McFarlane was asked at Thursday’s press conference whether he felt his squad had lost motivation.

“I would not agree with that,” McFarlane said.

“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 into the game on Monday, so hopefully we can improve that on Saturday.”

Chelsea still have an FA Cup final against Manchester City to look forward to, set for one week after the Liverpool match, but McFarlane insisted the club is not focusing on the final just yet.

“We have not spoken about the Cup final,” he said. “We have spoken about what we have to improve from the previous game and what we need to do in the next one.”

“We want to turn it around. We know the standards this club has set, and we aren’t meeting them at the moment.”

Chelsea currently sit ninth in the Premier League standings with 48 points. Their slim chances of securing a Champions League spot depend on Aston Villa winning the Europa League and finishing fifth in the league, which would open up an additional qualification place.

Even then, Chelsea would still need to finish sixth to take advantage of that scenario, with the club currently four points behind sixth-placed Bournemouth and just three matches remaining in the season. -Reporting by Trevor StynesEditing by Christian Radnedge/Reuters