Manchester City are already at a precarious spot in their Uefa Champions League campaign, and Chelsea may be better served if Jose Mourinho has Loic Remy in his starting XI.
Must win for City
It seems silly to say this, one game into a six-match group stage, but tonight’s home tie against Roma is approaching must-win status for Manchester City.
That’s because of the way their group is made up – three strong teams, including Bayern Munich, and then a flimsy CSKA Moscow side.
CSKA could easily lose all six matches, or at least not win any of them.
They don’t travel well and have lost five of their past seven home games in Europe.
So the group comes down to the three heavyweights and City are already three points behind the other two after a fine performance in Germany came to nothing in a 1-0 defeat.
Roma thrashed CSKA 5-1 at home and will probably be happy with a point at the Etihad Stadium.
City will have memories of 2011/12 too, when Villarreal capitulated and lost every game in Group A.
Then City lost away games to their two rivals – Bayern and Napoli – and became the first team to go out at the group stage despite having won 10 points.
Remy the better option
Didier Drogba’s return to London was a feel-good story this summer and he can certainly have an impact for Chelsea this season, but Loic Remy, the other forward arrival, deserves a starting spot instead if Diego Costa’s continuing injury problems keep him out tonight against Sporting Lisbon.
Remy, part of France’s World Cup squad, is a superb finisher with pace to burn.
He is a more dynamic player than Drogba, who contributed to a wasteful forward performance from Chelsea last time in their 1-1 opening draw with Schalke.
Everyone knows what Drogba can do and he is particularly powerful in the air, but at 36 he is a slower, less effective version of his old self.
The fact that Remy was also wanted by Liverpool and Arsenal shows how highly rated he is and, given a run of games, he will produce regular goals, as he showed at QPR and Newcastle United.
twoods@thenational.ae
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