Man city vs Chelsea......clash of the titans

Manchester City midfielder David Silva acknowledges that his side cannot afford to lose to Premier Leagueleaders Chelsea on Sunday."It is a very important game," he told the press on Thursday. "They are first in the league and have more points than us. We can't lose on Sunday and let that gap get any bigger so it is a very important game.

"It is early in this stage, it's still a long way to go in the Premier League and anything can happen [but] yes, we need to win on Sunday because otherwise the gap will start to get too big.

"I think Chelsea have made fantastic signings this year ... but we are a strong team. We've got a big team so as always we've got to go out there and win the game."

Nevertheless, Mourinho believes Chelsea have the ability to beat their Premier League title rivals, insisting they are confident in their own ability as they head into the clash with Manuel Pellegrini's side.

"It's always a good time to play against big teams because it makes my job easy," said the 51-year-old.

"We respect City totally because they deserve it, but we believe in ourselves.

"The perfect situation is to score a lot of goals and not concede, and we have to chase that perfection."