Riyad Mahrez has no intention of returning to Manchester City this weekend as he prepares Algeria for their must-win African Cup of Nations group clash with Ivory Coast.
Algeria are the defending AFCON champions, but are bottom of their group going into Thursday's final group fixture with just one point from their first two games. Defeat to Equatorial Guinea ended their 35-game unbeaten run, and left them facing an early exit from the tournament.
If Algeria don't win, they will be knocked out as a draw won't be good enough to qualify as one of the best third-placed finishers in the group stage. They are yet to score in their lacklustre opening two games against Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea.
Should Algeria fail to qualify, falling at the first hurdle of their title defence, it could see Mahrez return to City ahead of schedule, although it would be unlikely that he was able to get back to Southampton for Saturday's tea-time kick-off in the Premier League. City may be happy for Mahrez to return in time for the two-week winter break coming up after the trip to St Mary's, though, to give the right-winger a much-needed rest.
Mahrez, however, is not planning to come back from Cameroon anytime soon, and called upon his Algeria teammates to use the pressure on them to their advantage against Ivory Coast.
"Africa has a special football with special conditions," Mahrez said on Wednesday.
"At the level of the game, I find that everything is not to be thrown away. We lack efficiency and I think that sometimes we have to go through that. It forges the group. We work on determination and calmness to finish our chances.
"We may have a little more pressure given our current situation but we have always had it. I always had a little more responsibility since 2016-2017. We showed that we knew how to play with this pressure
"It's up to us to show it again tomorrow. It will be an open game with two teams wanting to win, hoping we win. I don't want to lose and go home.
"I believe in qualification. I can't tell you that we will win but I guarantee you that we will do everything for it. I am confident and hope to stay here longer."
Mahrez insisted his side are ready for their toughest fixture of the group stage, as he pointed to Ivory Coast having already secured passage to the last-16 as something that could help Algeria.
"We are ready. We are motivated. The whole nation is behind us," he continued.
"All the lights are green to succeed and we deserve to pass. But we have to show it on the pitch. We have to be ready and stay focused. Winning for us, for our country and for our families.
"In 2019, it was already a quarter-final, we both had to win. There it is different, they are already qualified. It will be a different match with other calculations.
"The message is simple: we have to win. We lacked efficiency, and we must be more spontaneous in the last gesture. When your back is against the wall, you shouldn't talk too much, everyone knows what to do.
"I can't explain [the lack of efficiency]. In all our matches with [coach Djamel] Belmadi, we failed to score in the last two matches only. We have to work harder and hit harder."
