Mark Lawrenson's FA Cup Final prediction ahead of Chelsea clash with Leicester City

In his weekly predictions piece for BBC Sport, pundit and broadcaster Mark Lawrenson turned his attention to the cup final, and backed the Blues to edge the game 1-0 and win the competition for the ninth time in the club's history.

Explaining his choice, the ex-Liverpool and Republic of Ireland star contended: “Chelsea's midweek defeat to Arsenal opens the door a little to the teams below them in the race for the top four, especially because they are trying to win the FA Cup this weekend, while their rivals play in the Premier League.

“The Blues made seven changes for the Gunners game, which felt like too many to me - even with a game like this next. It obviously backfired because of the result they got.

“Thomas Tuchel will pick his strongest team here though, and I think they will have too much for Leicester - the Foxes got a good win at Old Trafford on Tuesday, but that was against a weakened Manchester United side.”

The 63-year-old continued: “It will be close but, from what I've seen of Brendan Rodgers' side in the past few weeks, I am not sure they have got enough about them to break down this Chelsea side.

“Having around 20,000 fans back inside Wembley will help, though, especially for whichever team falls behind and needs to be lifted to come back. I am still sticking with Chelsea to win it, though. They will create more chances, and they just have to take them.”

Meanwhile, Lawro's sparring partner for the week, BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ Ace, tipped the Foxes to take home the trophy with a 2-1 win.

He said: “I'm going with Leicester. I think Chelsea will have their eyes on a different prize with the Champions League final in a couple of weeks. For Tuchel to come in and win the FA Cup straight away would really make his mark, but winning the Champions League would say even more.”