"Arsenal defeat has fired Manchester City up for Chelsea" - Kompany

Vincent Kompany has urged Manchester City to use Sunday’s shock defeat by Arsenal to fire them up for the key match with Chelsea at the end of the month.

City were beaten 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium through goals from Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud to end a 14-game unbeaten run. Yet instead of the defeat putting more pressure on the champions before the game at Chelsea, who are their next league opponents on 31 January, Kompany claimed the opposite is true.

“In theory it should be better for us now because we will be fired up for that more, definitely. We have always been great in games like this, so I’m actually looking forward to it,” he said.

Manuel Pellegrini’s team are five points behind Chelsea but Kompany is confident they can begin another run. City are in Abu Dhabi for warm-weather training this week before Middlesbrough’s visit on Saturday in the FA Cup fourth round.

Kompany said: “We are always liable to kick off a massive run and that’s the kind of club that we are. Maybe this run has stopped but the next one should be coming soon hopefully. You want to win always, so any result that’s not a victory you are disappointed. But with that said, we’ve been in situations like this before and it won’t affect the way we look at the Premier League. It won’t affect the way we look at the Champions League or the FA Cup. We will just make sure we are better in the next game.”

Kompany had missed just over a month due to a calf problem before starting against Arsenal but was encouraged by what he witnessed from the sidelines. “I’ve seen the same desire as I have seen year in, year out and that will never change. We have been without Kun [Sergio Agüero], myself, Yaya [Touré] and David Silva for a long period of time and yet we are still here five points behind Chelsea. If you had said that to us a month ago, we would have said, ‘Yes, we will take it.’ It’s good and it’s highs and lows. That’s what it’s all about,” he said.

Credit: Jamie Jackson/GuardianSport