Manchester City have no chance of defending their Premier League title, according to Bernardo Silva, who says his side are “completely out of the race”.
Pep Guardiola's four-in-a-row champion is fourteen points behind leader Liverpool, which still has a game in hand over City.
A dismal run of just two wins in City's last 10 league games has derailed an attempt at a title defense, and Silva acknowledged his side's hopes are over barring a miracle.
“I would say [winning the title is] not impossible, because in football there are no impossible things, but at the moment Man City are completely out of the title race,” the Portuguese international told Sky Sports.
“There is no doubt about that. It is too late for us. People always say that you only win a competition in January, but that you can lose it. And this season the reality is that we have lost it.”
City topped the table in early November but have since collected just eight points in ten games, with only relegation-threatened Leicester City and Southampton (both five) winning fewer.
No team in the history of the Premier League has overturned a points deficit of more than thirteen points to win the title. Arsenal did this when they fell the same number of points behind Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in the 1997-1998 season.
Man City ends a difficult December with a victory over Leicester
What will we see from the reigning Premier League champions in the new year? pic.twitter.com/XwUdIjDptr
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 29, 2024
Guardiola's side sit sixth in the league heading into Saturday's clash with West Ham, and Silva can only concentrate on helping City move up the league, rather than thinking about winning the crown the highest level.
“Right now it's about accepting reality,” he added. “I don't look at Liverpool, we're sixth or seventh in the league. I can't look at Liverpool or Arsenal or whatever.
“I'm now looking at the next match, trying to win three points to finish fifth, fourth and third.
“And then you can start counting ten games from the end of the season to see where you can go.”
City won 2-0 against Leicester City in their final league match of 2024, with that win marking just a second victory in the previous fourteen games in all competitions.
According to Opta's supercomputer, City will most likely finish in third place (34.2%).
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