Bernardo Silva: Manchester City Would Have Won Premier League Title Without Transitional Season Struggles

Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva has delivered a candid assessment of the 2025/26 Premier League title race, arguing that squad transition rather than Arsenal‘s dominance has been the defining factor in determining where the championship will land this season.

Speaking to The Athletic, the Portugal international was unequivocal in his belief that a fully functioning City side would have prevailed. “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,” Silva said. “I don’t say we would have won easily, but we would have won this league—so it’s quite frustrating.”

With just two Premier League fixtures remaining, Pep Guardiola‘s side trails Arsenal by two points and requires their title rivals to drop points to have any realistic chance of lifting the trophy. City’s remaining games are against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, while Arsenal face Burnley and Crystal Palace in their final two outings.

City’s difficult start to the campaign followed significant squad investment after they missed out on the title last season. The club brought in Antoine Semenyo, Marc Guehi, and Rayan Cherki among others, with those signings proving increasingly influential during a strong second half of the season. However, the early-season inconsistencies that accompanied that integration process proved costly in the context of a tight title race.

For Arsenal, the situation represents their clearest opportunity in years to reclaim English football’s top prize. The Gunners have finished as runners-up in each of the past three Premier League seasons, enduring consecutive near-misses that have tested the patience of their supporters. A title triumph in the coming weeks would end a drought stretching back to the 2003/04 Invincibles campaign — more than two decades without a league championship.

Silva, who has won the Premier League six times with City, acknowledged that Arsenal’s sustained squad-building under Mikel Arteta had made a serious title challenge inevitable. The Gunners have steadily assembled one of the division’s most cohesive squads over several years, and their consistency at the top of the table this season reflects that long-term development.

City’s late-season resurgence has kept the title race alive going into the final weeks, but the mathematics remain challenging. Whether Silva’s assertion that a settled City side would have proved too strong for Arsenal ultimately goes untested, the Portuguese midfielder’s comments offer an honest reflection on what has been a turbulent campaign at the Etihad Stadium.