He’s got Gunner fans talking after talking about City “mistakes” and not being “in love” with Arsenal.
Bernardo Silva thinks Manchester City would have beaten Arsenal to the title, if they didn’t have a “transitional season”.
With only two matches to play, Arsenal are close to their first title in 22 years, though Silva is not going down without a fight.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners take on the relegated Burnley and Crystal Palace, who have their own Europa Conference League final to contend with on the 27th May.
City, on the other hand, have tougher fixtures on paper. Pep Guardiola’s side travel to Champions League chasing Bournemouth, before hosting 5th-placed Aston Villa on the final day of the season.
Though, departing player Silva believes the title would already be City’s, if they didn’t make “so many mistakes” in recent months.
Speaking to The Athletic, the Portuguese midfielder did not hold back on his assessment of Arsenal:
“They’ve been growing and… well, it’s a team that has been together for, what, five years now, so it’s only natural that they would man up a little bit and start challenging for titles, so, yeah, let’s see what happens,” he said.
“No, I’m not in love [with Arsenal]. I do believe our main rivals were Liverpool by far. I also believe – and I know this is very subjective – that if we were not in a transitional season and if we didn’t make so many mistakes, we would have won this league.”
“I don’t say we would have won easily, but we would have won this league. So it’s quite frustrating.”
Bernardo Silva speaks out on the Callum Wilson disallowed goal debate
Of course, Callum Wilson’s last minute disallowed equaliser for West Ham v Arsenal is to be debated.
Wilson thought he had secured a priceless goal for the Irons, though Chris Kavanagh ruled out Wilson’s strike after VAR official Darren England recommended an on-field review.
Silva thought it was a foul, but has explained his frustration.
“The only problem is the consistency of the referees,” he said.
“It’s not just this. It’s everything that happens around, so in this picture you see three or four fouls taking place. It’s a foul, but it’s quite frustrating when they allow this type of contact at times during the season and then they decide not to allow it in such a game.
“It’s a shame. The Premier League is such a good product in terms of the referees letting the game flow and not whistling every challenge. All of this helps to make it the best league in the world in my opinion.
“But then on the other hand, you look at what has been happening with set-pieces in the last two seasons and it’s a bit of a shame to see teams taking one minute over throw-ins, free kicks, goal kicks, corners… I wouldn’t say that’s the way the game should be going.”
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