New Delhi: Guud Hiddink leads his Chelsea team into an FA Cup semi-final on Saturday evening - against an Arsenal side the Dutchman admits will present a formidable barrier to the Blues' hopes of winning the famous old trophy.
Hiddink has compared the Gunners with the team Chelsea will be meeting shortly in another semi-final - Barcelona, in the Champions League.
The Dutchman said of his team's London rivals to The Times, "They are a bit like Barcelona, who also sign players people like to watch in the stadium."
And he feels Arsenal have succeeded not only in adding substance to their style, but also in achieving managerial stability. In contrast, Chelsea have had four managers in two seasons.
Hiddink said, "To have stability, you must go for a longer period. Then you can make your aims on the very short term — daily or weekly — but you can also plan in advance what you can win in two or three years. Things have happened here that weren’t always in favour of stability."
Hiddink would relish beating Arsenal and then succeeding in the final against Manchester United or Everton in what would be his last game in charge of the west London club owned by his friend Roman Abramovich.
"If we and I can lift the cup for half a minute, that would be beautiful," Hiddink said - although his main objective when he arrived was to lead the Blues to the Premier League title.
"Things were slipping away when I was asked to come here in February in the ranking of the league," he said. "We have to play Champions League next year, so we have to be in the top four. I think we can easily say that’s done. But it would be foolish to say we’ve reached our goal in the league and that’s it. We’ll be fully going for results, because you never know what can happen," he added.
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