Fernandinho wants three points against Gunners.
Manchester City’s visit to Arsenal is key to their hopes of lifting the Premier League title, according to midfielder Fernandinho.
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The Eastlands club narrowed the gap on leaders Chelsea to three points after a resounding 3-0 win at rivals Manchester United on Tuesday.
Manuel Pelligrini’s City side still have two games in hand on Chelsea and Fernandinho knows they can’t afford to slip off the pace by allowing Arsenal to revive their own fading aspirations with a win at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
“This is going to be the key game for us,” said the Brazilian.
“We want to win this game to put some pressure on Chelsea and we’ll see what happens after that.
“It will be difficult for us. They are playing at home with their fans, so we need to be ready.”
While Arsenal have been stuttering, City have been regaining momentum in their pursuit of Jose Mourinho’s side and totally outplayed derby rivals United to record a fourth straight league win since they knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup.
Their fifth successive clean sheet set a Premier League club record, while City are also now unbeaten in nine away games. That compares to their dismal run at the start of the season when they won just one of their opening six away matches.
Fernandinho recognises that streak must continue if City are to reclaim the title they won two years ago.
“At the beginning of the season it was a little bit difficult for us but after that we learnt a lot and we have been better away from home,” he added.
“We have got some good results and we need to keep our performances at the same level to get the championship.”
City’s prospects of repeating last season’s win at Arsenal could be boosted by the return of top scorer Sergio Aguero following a hamstring injury but defender Matija Nastasic is still out.
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