Barcelona midfielder Xavi believes Chelsea can do them a favour in tomorrow's Premiership showdown with Manchester United.

"We are very aware that between the two semi-final ties United are playing to potentially win or lose the Premier League," said Xavi. "Hopefully they'll [United] have no chance to rest and it's a really tough match they face.

"It's not that we don't have an important weekend because, before we can start to think about the second semi-final in Manchester, we've got a game which will help determine whether we finish second or third in our championship.

"That makes the difference between automatic qualification for the Champions League or having to play the previous rounds. Obviously we'll be taking our task seriously on Saturday against Deportivo La Coruna but on paper United have the tougher work facing them before they host us next Tuesday."