Bernardo Silva has not been surprised by Arsenal's title charge this season as Manchester City gear up to face a new challenger.
Mikel Arteta worked with Bernardo for 18 months during his time as Pep Guardiola's assistant coach and the players who were coached by him know exactly how good he is. After intermittent spells under pressure at the Emirates, Arteta has transformed the Gunners into realistic title contenders for the first time in years as they sit five points clear of the Blues.
City managed to claw some of their deficit back this week when they won at Chelsea following Arsenal's draw with Newcastle to add even more expectation to their double-header with the leaders; the first game in London comes next month with the return fixture at the Etihad at the end of April. And should Arsenal beat Oxford in the FA Cup they will face another trip to the Etihad at the end of this month in the FA Cup fourth round.
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Bernardo knows Arteta well enough to have anticipated that they would be strong this season, but could not expect that City would face their rivals so often in the cups as well. The Blues have now had five draws in the domestic cups - Liverpool, Chelsea, Chelsea, Southampton, and Arsenal (or Oxford) that have silenced any moans about them getting easy cup draws.
"We knew there was a possibility of a huge growth at Arsenal this season," said Bernardo. "They have a very good manager and lots of young players full of desire to win. It doesn't surprise me.
"Let's wait to see what happens in their match tomorrow but it's fair to say our draws this season have been hard!"
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