Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has insisted that the Blues have to remain positive despite the disappointing draw with Everton on Saturday afternoon.
Pep Guardiola's men drew 1-1 with Everton at the Etihad Stadium on New Year's Eve, which allowed league-leaders Arsenal to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for the home side against the Toffees, but Demarai Gray bagged a stunning goal in the second period to earn Frank Lampard's side a point on the road.
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Akanji started at the heart of the City defence against Everton, and the Swiss defender, who arrived in the summer from Borussia Dortmund, should probably have done better to prevent Gray from getting a shot off. However, he suggested that it is about putting pressure on Arsenal and making the most of the hectic fixture schedule.
"It was good until we conceded and it went 1-1," he told club media. "We tried to score the second goal and the winning goal, we had opportunities to score, but it didn't want to go in. We tried until the last minute.
"It was one of those games. We gave the opponents one opportunity with their only shot on target and they scored it immediately.
"In the next game we have to do better, keep a clean sheet and then maybe 1-0 will be enough."
He continued: "We got one point out of this game, we try to keep putting the pressure on Arsenal and it's still a long season. We've still got a lot of games to play, it's a busy January that we've got now and we try to win all of our next games."
Discussing the upcoming back-to-back matches against Chelsea, Akanji added: "It's not going to get easier. I think Chelsea and then we play in the week against Tottenham and Arsenal, we've got United in between, there's no easy games coming but that's what we play football for."
Akanji has made 15 appearances for Guardiola's side so far this season, including 14 starts. He is expected to start in the Premier League clash against Chelsea on Thursday.
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