Grealish growing into a city giant
(right) he’s in this form, it’s really good.”
Despite lacking the relentless consistency of their previous title-winning seasons, City remain in the hunt for a fifth league success in six years, eight points behind Arsenal with a game in hand.
Decider
Crucially, according to Silva, City have found their best form at just the right time, ahead of what could be a title decider against Arsenal at the Etihad on April 26.
“I think we’re playing our best football of the season,” said Silva. “Where we are at the moment is the best we’ve played, by far.
“Arsenal can win it, but we’re going to fight until the end. It can go both ways. Some people say ‘City are more experienced’ and others say ‘oh, because they’ve won it in the past, they don’t want to win it any more’.
“For Arsenal, it’s the same. One day they don’t have enough experience to win it, but the next day it’s ‘Oh they’re very hungry because they’ve never won it’.
“Experienced or inexperienced, they are there. They are very good and deserve to be there.
“It could be a very important game against them, but we have big games before then. If we slip up before then, it doesn’t matter what happens in that game.”
Meanwhile, Earling Haaland is set to return for Manchester City’s trip to Southampton on Saturday after failing to recover from a groin issue for the win over Liverpool.
Guardiola is confident he will have his striker back to face Saints — and next week’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich.
“Erling is getting better,” said Guardiola. “On Friday he felt a little bit better compared to the previous two days. It’s five days to Southampton, so hopefully can still help us.”
Push
City’s players have been given three days off and will return to training on Wednesday for the final push in a season that could still see them win the Treble.
“The players need to rest,” said Guardiola. “I was on holiday in my hometown in Catalonia, but they were with their national teams.
“After that, if you continue in the Champions League or FA Cup, you have a lot of games.
“So, stay away, then we have three days to prepare for Southampton, then Bayern Munich, Leicester, Sheffield United and Arsenal.”