Silva: Liverpool are City's big rivals, not Arsenal

Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva says Liverpool remain their biggest rivals despite Arsenal's improvement over recent years.

Arsenal finished three points ahead of City last campaign as Pep Guardiola's side failed to win the Premier League for the first time in four seasons.

A second-place finish for the Gunners represented a fourth consecutive time they finished runners-up under boss Mikel Arteta, with Arsenal now consistently competing for the league title.

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Despite Arsenal's emergence as a title rival, Silva insists defending champions Liverpool remain City's biggest challenger.

"All rivalries are different," Silva told Sky Sports.

"I would say that Manchester United has been going through quite a difficult phase for their club over the last years - it's a rivalry because we're in the same city.

"Our biggest rival by far is Liverpool, because those are the guys that always competed with us for titles, and they also managed to win titles.

"Then you definitely see a team like Arsenal over the years getting better and better, and being able to start fighting for those titles, even though they haven't yet reached that level of achieving it.

"So, the rivalries are quite different, but until now, I would say that our rivals, our big rivals, were always Liverpool."

City take on Arsenal this weekend, live on Sky Sports, looking to put right the wrongs of their most recent meeting. The Gunners thrashed City 5-1 in February, at a "fragile" time for the Citizens.

"It was a really bad time for us," Silva said.

"it was a time when we were really fragile, like anything would happen to us. You would concede a goal and the team would go down really easily, mistake after mistake after mistake.

"The mood was not good, everything was quite bad, and they took advantage of that.

"They saw blood, and they took advantage. And that's the level when you play against these kind of teams.

"And we have to know that against Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea is getting there as well. These kind of teams, if you're not at your top, top level, you're going to suffer."

Silva's City team-mate Rodri says Sunday's meeting represents an opportunity to get revenge on Arsenal for last season's drubbing.

"Our best weapon for us all these years has been our mental strength," Rodri said.

"You know, when things got really tough, we stepped forward. And this is the champion's mentality we have all these years. For me, the key is the difference, because at the end, the teams and the levels are very similar.

"You have top players all around the league, and this team is even better. So for me, that was the difference for us all these years. This little step, always able to win, always able to suffer.

"I think we have to recover this spirit, we have to recover this mentality. Of course, the level will come, but the most important thing here, and I talk about it, we were able to win leagues and leagues because of this, not because of the level or anything, because I remember the last league title we won was because of a save.

"Now we have a bit of revenge for Arsenal, because we were in a bad moment and they took advantage of that. And yeah, we want to make them feel that we are not that team again, and we're going to compete and try to beat them at home."

While Silva says Arsenal are not their biggest rival, Rodri feels that both the Gunners and Liverpool are favourites, ahead of City, for the Premier League title.

"I don't know if we're going to be there or not [for the title]," Rodri said.

"What we want to focus on is the present. We cannot think of a title race. First, we have to look to ourselves, improve, be solid, and make this stability in the long term, and then we will talk about this.

"Of course, right now, I think Liverpool and Arsenal are a bit favourites because of what they've done in the past.

"But still, I don't think they know what we're able to do. So, that's a good point for us. I think we want to raise the level, and let's talk in February, March."