The former Arsenal defender insists the Blues are fully focused on banking all three points against Rafa Benitez’s side after their shock defeat at Southampton earlier this month.
“This is a massive game for us and even more because the last League game was a bad performance by the team,” Clichy declared.
“We want to come back to the Premier League with a better attitude and of course, a better result for the fans and for ourselves.
“We know we are much better than the Southampton game and Chelsea is a good way of proving that. It’s a big game and the kind of match that every player wants to be involved in, so we are working very hard to be ready for this game.”
As it stands, there are just four points separating City and third-placed Chelsea who have scored nine goals in their past three games and possess an excellent away record.
The 27-year-old admits City’s back- line will have to be watertight in order to keep the Londoners at bay.
“Chelsea are a good team with a good attitude and they have been performing well lately,” he said. “They started slow, but Chelsea are always going to be Chelsea at the end of the day.
“They’ve got great players and have made some very good signings who have adapted well to English football.
“We know they have individuals who can score goals at any time so we will have to be aware of that and as a defence it is important that we try our best to keep a clean sheet.”
The Blues will be buoyed by last week’s 4-0 FA Cup victory over Leeds, but Gael believes the team now need to shift their focus back to league matters.
“To win 4-0 against Leeds was a great result, but the Premier League is a different competition and like the manager says we have 12 games left and let’s just go game by game and treat each one like a final,” he said.
“Of course there is a big gap between ourselves and Manchester United and I’m sure people were thinking the same this time last year, eight points was at the time a lot to claw back and we finally did it.
“I’m not saying we are going to do the same because there is a difference between eight and 12 points so it’s for them to lose, but we are going to try and catch them because it is not finished - but let’s just concentrate on Chelsea for now.”
