Bernardo Silva has admitted Liverpool are once again a major threat to Manchester City after frustrating the English champions on Saturday afternoon.
The Reds came from one goal down to earn a point at the Etihad and deny City the chance to equal the English record of 24 consecutive home wins in all competitions, which was set by Sunderland more than 130 years ago.
It also maintained a strong start to the campaign for Jurgen Klopp’s new-look side, who have lost only once in 24 games in the top flight since beaten 4-1 in their most recent previous visit to the Etihad back in April.
And Silva expects Liverpool to join Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in attempting to prevent City from winning a fourth consecutive title.
“I think we should have won – but when you play a team like Liverpool, this season they are back being very competitive again,” said the City midfielder.
“We expected it after a tough season for them. We knew their energy was going to be back so it’s going to be tough – not just with them but Arsenal, Spurs – but we are also ready to fight.
“We enjoy it more when we win but it’s nice for the Premier League and fans when it’s this tight and there is emotion. We now have four teams who are very close to each other.
“We are going to try our best to get a little bit of distance – last season wasn’t nice to be so far behind Arsenal. We want to stay close to the top so when it gets to February, March we are in the discussion again to win the Premier League.”
City have now dropped points in consecutive games after going into the recent international break on the back of a remarkable 4-4 draw at Chelsea, having already this season lost at Wolves and Arsenal.
Erling Haaland gave Pep Guardiola’s side a first-half lead on Saturday only for Trent Alexander-Arnold to thump home an equaliser 10 minutes from time and ensure City have won only two of their last eight meetings with Liverpool.
“I think first half we were much, much better than them,” said Silva.
“Second half they put more pressure on us. In the end we had chances to win this game and there were times when we should have been 2-0 up. So it’s very frustrating, in the last two games against Chelsea and Liverpool we’ve felt four points have escaped us.
“In the last game against Chelsea it was the opposite, (but against Liverpool) we were not clinical enough. (Against Chelsea) we scored our chances and defensively we weren’t good enough.
“As a team we are playing really well but individually we have to take responsibility and demand more from ourselves, all of us. These kind of games, we need to win them.”
And asked if playing at the Etihad is as tough as anywhere in Europe for visiting teams, Silva added:
“Maybe yes – if you look at our results here last season and this year it says something about what it’s like to play at City but there are a lot of tough grounds. Playing at Anfield is never easy, for example.
“We definitely want to create an atmosphere where it’s tough for our rivals. But I feel disappointed because it felt like we should have won the game.”
