The Europa League holders have won one and lost one of their opening two UEFA Champions League group stages matches heading into Match Day Three at City.
Emery was speaking at Sevilla’s pre-match press conference at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening.
“We want to give a positive account of ourselves,” he told journalists.
“We must be intense in our game - we’ve done OK in this group so far so this game is key for us – whoever wins or loses is in a different place.
“Maybe a draw is even a positive result for us – we’ll go all out to win but a draw may be a positive result.
“We know that City have some speedy players who can hurt so we need to control that speed and those players.
“We need to take something from the last two years in the Europa League – we need to have character on the field.
“You need to be brave but you need to be brave in a controlled way, we need to be balanced and we need to be confident that we can go and win all of our individual battles.”
Emery was effusive in his praise for the quality Wednesday night’s hosts have in their squad.
The 43-year old ranks City as one of the continent’s top six clubs and refused to accept that the injuries to Sergio Aguero and David Silva have handed his team any kind of advantage.
“I think we judge the XI that City put out – we don’t look for the players who are missing, just the ones on the teamsheet tomorrow,” Emery declared.
“City is a top, top side - you can see that both in form in Europe and in the league.
“They are looking to improve and go further this year. They’ve signed great players. Some of the best players in the world are at the top six clubs in the world, like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester United, PSG - you can mention City in the same breath.
“They have some great individual players – whether or not one players or another, they’ve got a great squad. We’re aware of the dangers they can create. We also know we can create problems too.”
French defender Adil Rami echoed his manager’s words and also paid tribute to Jesus Navas, a Sevilla legend.
Rami added: “We know we’re at City, one of the best teams in the world. One of the best attacks in the world in the moment. We’re a humble side with a lot of weapons ourselves to take on this type of game.
“I have a lot of respect for Jesus. He’s a very quick player, strong, and a very nice person too, I’ve heard.”
