Bernardo Silva does not see a way back for Manchester City in the title race Bernardo Silva does not see a way back for Manchester City in the title race 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". (More Football News)
Pep Guardiola's four-in-a-row champions are 14 points behind top-flight leaders Liverpool, who still have a game in hand over City.
The first match of the final round of group matches took place between Korea and Malaysia and resulted in a 3-3 draw. The splitting of points confirmed Korea's qualification to the semifinal. The draw also ensured that Pakistan would finish second in the group regardless of their result in their last group match against India.
A woeful run of just two wins in City's last 10 league games has derailed an attempted title defence, 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 impossibles, but right now, Man City are completely out of the title race," the Portugal international told Sky Sports.
"There's no question about that. It's too late for us. People always say that you don't win a league until January but you can lose it, and this season the reality is we've lost it."
City were top of the table at the start of November but have since accumulated just eight points across 10 games, with only relegation-threatened Leicester City and Southampton (both five) winning fewer.
No team in Premier League history has overturned a points deficit of more than 13 points to win the title, with Arsenal doing so when as many points behind Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in the 1997-98 campaign.
Man City end a difficult December with a win against LeicesterWhat will we see from the reigning Premier League champions in the new year? pic.twitter.com/XwUdIjDptr
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 29, 2024Guardiola's side sit sixth in the league heading into Saturday's clash with West Ham, and Silva can only focus on helping City up the league, rather than thinking about the top-flight crown.
"Right now it's about accepting the reality," he added. "I'm not looking at Liverpool, we're sixth or seventh in the league. I cannot be looking at Liverpool or Arsenal or whatever.
"I'm looking right now at the next game, try and win three points to be fifth, to be fourth and to be third.
"And then ten games from the end of the season you can start making a little bit of math to see where you can go."
City were 2-0 victors over Leicester City in their last league outing of 2024, with that win marking just a second win across their previous 14 games in all competitions.
frenzy slotsAccording to Opta's supercomputerjili no.1, City are most likely to finish third (34.2%).