Chelsea have spent the last few days getting ready for our first fixture of 2026, when we travel to the Etihad Stadium for a tough match against Man City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

Those preparations have looked a little different, being led by our Under-21s coach McFarlane – who will be in the dugout in Manchester tomorrow – following the departure of Enzo Maresca.

However, Neto insists players and staff remain fully focused on the task at hand, staying professional and aiming to start the year with a strong result.

‘The mood has to be positive,’ said Neto. ‘Football is like this and the only thing we can do is to be with a positive mindset for the next game to win it.

‘That’s what Calum did. He came to training with a positive mindset, with a lot of attitude, and that is what he asks of the players as well. This is what we have to do to win the game on Sunday.

‘If we beat Man City we make a big statement that we are here and we will continue to fight for our purpose and for our goals. This is what we have to do. We are at Chelsea, we want to win trophies, we want to be at the top of the league, so we have to work for it.’

To that end, our Portuguese winger believes the most important thing is for everyone to stick together, as a team and as a club, while working towards the same aim, ensuring a successful season for Chelsea.

‘Inside the group we have to have the mentality of not hearing the noise that is going on outside and know what we are capable of. We have to work hard together and have the mentality that we are capable of doing great stuff.

‘The priority is the team bonding and the team togetherness, like always. It’s about the togetherness and doing better than we are doing. Trying to move forward as a group, understand that these things happen, it’s part of the process.

‘We know that the club wants to win, we know that the club wants to achieve big stuff, and this is the mentality that we have to have in the group as well.’

That includes focusing on the reasons we have dropped points in recent weeks, to put things right and earn the points our performances deserve to propel us up the table in the fight for the top four.

‘I think what is missing is maybe a bit of consistency in the Premier League,’ Neto continued. ‘We are getting punished by small mistakes, not killing the game when we should, and this is about consistency.

‘Just when we lose a bit of the momentum we concede a goal or get a red card, and people maybe don’t realise how dominant we were in games we lost. Maybe in these games it is about a little bit of a lack of concentration as well and this is what we have to improve.

‘You can be the best at the beginning of the game but when the game finishes if you are losing then you are the worst. This is football and in this club we have to learn from it and continue to do better.’

That starts at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, when the Blues have the chance to secure a statement victory against Manchester City, as we kick off 2026 and the second half of our campaign with everything still to play for.