Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong preparing for a ‘war’ against Chelsea

EPL,Edwin van der Sar,Nigel de Jong,Manchester City vs Manchester United(Getty Images)

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Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong is expecting Sunday’s match at Chelsea to be nothing short of a war, with the Citizens only having the Premier League left to concentrate on after being knocked out of the Europa League.

City will go into the match with confidence after winning their last three matches against the defending champions, and with a place in the Champions League the priority for next season, both sides will be doing everything ensure victory against their rivals.

A win for City will almost certainly end Chelsea’s title bid, with many already believing that it is over. Therefore they would be doing their city rivals Manchester United a favour, but would also increase the gap between themselves and fifth-placed Tottenham.

Despite everything that is potentially riding on the match, De Jong is looking forward to it, and determined to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Speaking to City’s official website, the World Cup finalist said: “They’re playing at home. They know what happened against us there last season, so I think they will come at us 200 per cent.

“We just have to make sure that we are focused enough to win the game. We’ve just got to pick ourselves up and do our normal jobs.  We have to be prepared to go to war with Chelsea.

“The Europa League is gone now. But we’ve got a new target, and that’s the Champions League. So we just have to get our heads straight for the Chelsea game.”

Although a top-four finish – and Champions League qualifying place – is likely for City this season, De Jong believes the club should be aiming not just for just fourth place, but for the highest position they can attain.

He continued: “You want to go straight into the Champions League without the need for a qualification game.

“You want to finish at least third, which is the position we’re in now. You never know what’s going to happen in the first two places, but for us, the main goal is just to get a straight Champions League group stage place, which you get for finishing third.”

The former Hamburg midfielder went on to confirm that Italian striker Mario Balotelli apologised to the team following his red card in the Europa League tie on Thursday against Dynamo Kiev.

He concluded: “I saw him after the game. Of course he was apologetic. He was angry, he was disappointed as well.

“He’d let his team down in a way, but he knows that himself. This is a good lesson for him, and we’ll see what happens.”