Bernardo Silva insist ‘a lot of points will be dropped’ in Premier League title race with Arsenal | OneFootball

Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva has insisted both his side and Premier League title rivals Arsenal will drop a lot of points between now and the end of the season.

The Blues moved to two points adrift of first-placed Gunners at the weekend as goals from Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden secured a comfortable 3-0 triumph against Sunderland, whereas Arsenal fell to a dramatic, late 2-1 defeat away at Aston Villa.

City are aiming to win a fifth Premier League title in six seasons and after recording their worst league finish under Guardiola last term, the onus is on the Blues to challenge Arsenal all the way in the title race this time round.

After making an indifferent start to the 2025-26 campaign with two losses in their opening three Premier League outings, Manchester City found themselves languishing in the bottom half of the table as they entered the September international break.

Guardiola’s ranks witnessed significant upheaval in the summer transfer window, when newly-appointed director of football Hugo Viana made sweeping changes to the first-team squad and signed off on the exits of several senior stars past their respective primes.

Since September, this new-look Manchester City side have turned a corner and gradually moved away from their worrying over-reliance on Erling Haaland in recent months, with the likes of Foden, Jeremy Doku and summer signing Rayan Cherki shouldering greater responsibility in attack.

City have kept their head down and slowly closed the gap on runaway leaders Arsenal in recent weeks, though club captain Bernardo Silva has stressed that there will be plenty more twists in the title race between now and the end of the season – and that nothing will be decided just yet.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening, the Portuguese midfielder was asked whether Manchester City’s win over Sunderland and Arsenal’s defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday had lifted the mood in the camp ahead of Wednesday night’s clash with Real Madrid.

“It’s better to be two points away from the top than being five,” Silva said. “But it’s a long season – I’ve been here for long enough to understand that we’re in December.

“We’re in December and both teams (Arsenal and Manchester City) are going to drop points, until the end of the season – a lot of points. It’s not going to be a surprise.

“So there’s no point in looking at what they do. Our main goal is to perform ourselves, it’s to prepare the team to be the best version of ourselves. And if we do that, we know that we have a big chance of fighting for that title.”

After falling to a shock 2-0 defeat at home to Bayer Leverkusen last time out in the UEFA Champions League, Silva and Manchester City will be aiming to return to winning ways at the Santiago Bernabeu and capitalise on their rich vein of recent Premier League form.