Chelsea clash crucial

City’s roving reporter writes every week for Chron Sport
IT’S perhaps a good thing the Manchester City squad has headed off to Abu Dhabi for a week. The break will give the players a chance to shake out Sunday’s disappointment.

The squad can only benefit from some warm weather training and will be well looked after.

The players will have been a bit down after losing to Arsenal, but Arsene Wenger’s men were in a different class at the weekend. That was probably the best I’ve seen Arsenal play away for around three years.

I don’t think City had a shot on target in the first half, and it didn’t get much better in the second.

Arsenal were just so good and beating the reigning champions will do their confidence the world of good.

Next up in the premier league for City is a trip to Chelsea on Saturday week: how vital is that game going to be? The gap is already five points between the two after the weekend’s results, and to be honest Chelsea isn’t going to be dropping many more points.

I still believe it’s a bit early to describe the Chelsea game as a must-win for City but it’s certainly a must-not-lose one.

Don’t forget there are still 40-odd points left to play for – but an eight-point Chelsea cushion would quite possibly be too much for City to claw back before May.