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When given the opportunity to talk about Manchester City’s title rivals this season, the player refused to give credit to the Gunners, suggesting their current title challenge is “only natural” and that City would have won the league if they weren’t in a “transitional” period.
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“[Arsenal have] 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,” Silva began.
“I do believe our main rivals (in his time at City) 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.”
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In other news, the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel have ruled that the referee made a mistake by not awarding a penalty for Silva’s foul on Merlin Rohl during City’s recent draw with Everton.
The panel voted unanimously that a penalty should have been given, saying “there is a clear, sustained holding offence which continues as the corner is taken and the ball comes into play”.
The point City earned with that incorrect decision is one of the reasons the team will still be in the title race going into the final week.