'They absolutely ooze aura' – Voices of South London: Chloe Petts

Today, we hear from comedian, broadcaster and diehard Palace fan Chloe Petts, who performed at our 2022/23 End of Season awards and who knows, all too well, both the trials and jubilation of supporting the Eagles on the big stage...

• Chloe, thanks for chatting to us! Let's get into it: how are you feeling heading into such a massive week?

After such a great result on Sunday against Tottenham and fantastic performances in general, I am scoring very high on the Hope-ometer.

City are City so it's gonna be hard, but I just really hope that the boys can perform to the top of their ability because they can absolutely beat anyone on their day.

I'm mainly excited to meet up with my mates at lunch time and enjoy their company and savour a day out at Wembley. If we win, don't expect to hear from me for a couple of weeks – because I will have a prior engagement of being passed out in a bush in euphoric delirium.

• What have you made of our season so far in general, and the FA Cup run?

It's been one of the best I can remember. It's such a shame we had such a slow start, because we could really be looking up the table right now, but that is nitpicking given we're in an FA Cup Final and have some of the finest young players in the league right now. It would be so Palace to make Europe from 12th spot in the Prem.

I'm not over-exaggerating when I say Oli Glasner can have any one of my internal organs should he ever need them – he can also have them if he doesn't need them too, in all honesty.

• Where were you for the semi-final, and what was your highlight from it?

I was actually in Sydney for the comedy festival, so I had to wake up at 4am to watch the game.

I watched it on my phone as my partner lay next to me and I was trying to be quiet so as not to wake her... but the limbs when Sarr scored the third goal had the duvet all over the place.

I assured her that she was very happy to wake up and celebrate with me.

• Onto our opponents... Manchester City – how tough will they be to beat?

City have had a tough season but they've sort of come good of late, so I'm not expecting them to be rubbish.

I'm expecting a very difficult game in which we have to concentrate and be extremely disciplined the whole game and take our chances.

It will be interesting to see whether Haaland plays, and whether Guardiola sets up with an inverted left-back. I kinda hope he does both, because Marc, Max and Chris can look after the big lad, and Muñoz and Sarr can exploit the wing.

Oh no, I just got really excited again...

• It’s our first final since 2016 – what are your memories of that one? Lots of people have said it’s a bit of a different feeling this year?

I watched that at home with my Dad and it was a really difficult day. We played so well and I think deserved to win – and I think a refereeing mistake was partially at fault for that, which is always difficult to take. But Man United showed their quality in the end which is fair enough.

I guess it does feel different because we have such an exciting team who seem to have bonded really well and are in a great vein of form. They absolutely ooze aura and don't seem scared of anything – even a chess tournament.

• Time to imagine... what would it mean to you if Palace did win it on the day?

It would be the best day of my life.

I love this club and it has given me so much over the years in terms of joy and community, and it would be such a privilege to be able to experience something as big as winning an FA Cup Final.

I don't wanna look ahead to those Saturday evening pints if we did win – but I think we'd all be crying tears of joy.

• What will your Cup Final day look like?

I'm doing Fighting Talk in the morning so I can rep the Palace on Five Live. Then I'm gonna walk down and meet a bunch of my mates, who are an excellent group of blokes who I've bonded with at Palace over the past few years.

It's pints in Covent Garden, then head over to Wembley together, soak in the atmosphere and then watch the match. I'm buzzing!

• And finally... what's your pre-match message to the players?

I don't think they need to hear anything from me, because what can I tell a bunch of professionals that they don't know already?

But maybe it's useful to say: we love you whatever happens, and I hope you can play with the joy of knowing that you have our backing 100%.

There's gonna be 40,000 Palace fans on your team backing you all the way.

Match Details

Crystal Palace v Manchester City

• Saturday, 17th May
• 16:30 BST
• FA Cup Final
• Wembley Stadium
• Live audio commentary on Palace TV+