The Brazilian midfielder believes if the Blues can repeat the display against Arsenal, they will have an excellent chance of leaving South Wales with three points but adds the team shouldn’t have allowed this situation to arise.
“We need to go for the win and play with the same intensity we did against Arsenal,” said Fernando.
“We can still finish third if Arsenal lose to Aston Villa - and we’ve seen that anything can happen this season - so we must forget about the draw and just go for three points.
“I didn’t watch the West Ham game but obviously learned of the result after it had finished, but the fact is, with the players we have, we should never be in a situation where we are relying on other teams to make sure we finish in the top four. Now we have a second chance and we have to make sure we take it.”
Fernando has been in excellent form of late and has twice been nominated in the Etihad Player of the Month poll for March and April.
His non-stop powerhouse display against the Gunners earned him a standing ovation when he was substituted, but he won’t be happy unless he can help the Blues finish in the top four.
“It was a good game but I wouldn’t say it was my best performance so far – we knew we had to play well to win but unfortunately we didn’t manage to do that – but we will aim to finish the job on Sunday,” he said.
“We still have one game to play and the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League – if we fail, we can’t class this as a good season – if we do, I think it’s been a reasonable season overall because we will have at least finished fourth in the Premier League, won the Capital One Cup and got to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
“So in my opinion, we have to reserve judgement on our campaign until after Sunday’s game.”
