MIND THE GAP
BERNARDO SILVA admits the pressure is on Manchester City in their title crunch against Liverpool.
City host table-topping Liverpool tomorrow in a mouthwatering and potentially decisive clash in the race for this season’s Premier League.
Having allowed Jurgen Klopp’s unbeaten side to open up a seven-point lead, Pep Guardiola has warned his players that dropping any more points will be fatal for their hopes of retaining their crown.
And playmaker Silva said: “Is it must-win? A little bit, yes. We know the pressure is a little bit more on us because if we don’t win it will be very difficult to go after them.
“That’s what we will try to do, it’s what we try to do every game. We will try to win the three points especially in front of our fans.
“We have to think about ourselves, that we have to win every game possible to try to reach them, to close the gap a little bit and that’s what we’ll try to do. We know we are seven points behind and if we win it will be only four and we’ll put some pressure on them.
“All games are important when you play against one of the contenders – when it’s the team that is in first position it’s even more important because you’re not only winning your points but you’re taking points off them.
“They’re unbeaten until now in the Premier League and we’ll try to end that.”
City will know exactly how Liverpool feel having
been in the same position last season. They went into the New Year with momentum and an aura of invincibility around them having made an unbeaten start to their league campaign.
That ended at Anfield when Liverpool became the first side to inflict a league defeat on them in mid-january.
Silva said: “It’s better to be that team than what we are now. They’ve had a lot of clean sheets, an impressive defence.
“The front three – everyone knows how good they are. They work a lot so do the midfielders, they press a lot.
‘We know them, they know us, this season they’ve been doing very well in the Premier League and the Champions League so it’s two very good teams.”
City will be pleased to see the back of December after losing three of their final five games in the month.
They ended the year with victory at Southampton and Silva said: “After that difficult moment of losing three of the last four games in the Premier League, it’s good to come back and get a win before that game against Liverpool – and get our confidence back to where it should be.”