Calum wants Villa to show ruthless side

CALUM CHAMBERS has already suffered one hammering at the Etihad this season and warned Aston Villa need to be “fearless” to stop it happening again.

The centre-half, 27, was on the end of a fivegoal mauling when playing for Arsenal against champions-elect Manchester City at the start of the campaign.

Mikel Arteta’s Gunners were 2-0 down inside the opening 15 minutes and with Granit Xhaka sent off later in the first-half, the afternoon was a nightmare.

Chambers says he is not on a personal revenge mission, but rather sees this as a chance for Villa to finish on a high.

He said: “It’s not like I’m going there to make things right after what happened – I’m looking to go there and get a result with Villa.

“I’m sure everybody will be looking at us as the underdogs, but that shouldn’t affect us. If anything, it should feed us.

“We should go there hungry. With the mentality that we have nothing to lose. We need to be fearless. The manager isn’t relaxing and, as a group of players, neither are we.

“We know we should be finishing higher up the table with this group – we’ve had discussions about that.

“We haven’t taken our foot off the gas. We’re trying to push on, get results, make the fans happy and send them home with good things to talk about.

“We were disappointed after the 1-1 draw with Burnley. We were flat because we want to be winning these games.

“We want to give everything we’ve got. In our minds, we want the win. We don’t want to finish where we are in the table now.

“So we’ve not got caught up in everything that’s been going on. We’re focusing on ourselves.”

Chambers (above) does have some good memories of playing against City – he made his debut for the Gunners eight years ago in the Community Shield when they ran out 3-0 winners.

But he believes Pep Guardiola’s side offer unique challenges for defenders.

He added: “We’ll have to be focused.

They’re quality. They can open you up in so many different ways.

“Tactically, the way they play is so different to other teams you’ll face. Everyone has to be switched on.

“They get into positions and pockets of space that, as defenders, you think to yourself you can’t mark them.

“They have false nines, players pulling off you. They overload you.

“I’ve seen Mikel Arteta trying to implement that at Arsenal now. He’s put those tactics in there, as well. It becomes a very tactical challenge.

“But, obviously, City have done it and do it very well. They know exactly what they are doing – it’s why they are such a good team.

“But we have a game plan. We have worked on it. We’ll come up with ways to stop that. They are world class – one of the best teams in the world. That’s why we need to be fearless.”