Home form crucial to top-four finish

The City kit boss and former Latics star writes every week for Chron Sport
AFTER losing 2-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, it is imperative that Manchester City bounce back with maximum points in the next match, which is at home to Sunderland.

When the current international break finishes, we must beat Steve Bruce’s Black Cats on April 3 because, with eight games remaining, our form at Eastlands is going to be decisive to our bid to finish in the top-four of the Barlcays Premier League table.

Luckily Tottenham Hotspur, who are also chasing Champions League qualification, only drew 0-0 with West Ham United, although you cannot rule out Liverpool, who are on a roll and saw off Sunderland 2-0.

Our meetings with Kenny Dalglish’s side (April 11) and Spurs (date to be confirmed) look more pivotal than ever after the most recent set of results.

It was disappointing to lose at Chelsea. We started brightly, enjoyed a lot of possession in the first 20 minutes and overall put in a good first half performance.

But it petered out as the second period wore on, and late goals from David Luiz and Ramires meant we left the capital empty-handed.

Obviously it was a huge blow to lose our captain Carlos Tevez to a groin injury.

Carlos had a fitness test on the morning of the match, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to be able to take part.

I think he was being a bit too optimistic, but that is because he was desperate to play and help out his team-mates. That is the sort of guy he is.

If we had taken a risk and selected Carlos, he could have done further damage to the injury and missed the rest of the season, which is unthinkable.

Carlos is not involved with the Argentina squad this time, so he has a fortnight to take a break and hopefully fully recover from the knock.

I was in work today to sort out a few bits and pieces while most of the lads are overseas with their respective national teams. I am off tomorrow and Thursday, before coming back in on Friday and Saturday, when some of the lads who are not on international duty will also be reporting for training.