Departing Manchester City star Bernardo Silva claims his team would've pipped Arsenal to the Premier League title this season if they hadn't made mistakes as they have recently.
Arsenal are close to breaking their 22-year wait to win the PL title; they have 2 more games left this season. They play against relegated Burnley and Crystal Palace away from home on the final matchday. Their closest rivals, Manchester City, have a tougher set of fixtures to combat.
First, they take on Bournemouth, who have gone 16 games without a loss in the league, away from home, before taking on UEFA Champions League-chasing Aston Villa at The Etihad Stadium.
Speaking to The Athletic, Bernardo Silva made an honest admission about how he sees Arsenal as a team. He said (via Joe):
“They’ve 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."
He then insisted Man City would've won the PL if they weren't in a transition phase this season and revealed that Liverpool were the club's biggest rivals in the recent past. He said:
“No, I’m not in love [with Arsenal]. I do believe our main rivals 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."
Arsenal currently sit in first place in the league table, with 79 points. They are followed by Manchester City on 77 points. If the Gunners win their remaining two games, they will be crowned 2025-26 PL champions.
Manchester City star Bernardo Silva speaks out on VAR controversy in Arsenal win
Speaking in the same interview, Silva spoke about the disallowed Callum Wilson goal in Arsenal's 1-0 win over West Ham. He admitted that Raya was fouled, but vented his frustration at the lack of consistency in the decision making. He said:
"The only problem is the consistency of the referees. It’s not just this. It’s everything that happens around, so in this picture, you see three or four fouls taking place. It’s a foul, but it’s quite frustrating when they allow this type of contact at times during the season, and then they decide not to allow it in such a game.
"It’s a shame. The Premier League is such a good product in terms of the referees letting the game flow and not whistling every challenge. All of this helps to make it the best league in the world, in my opinion."