Bernardo Silva explains how Man City exploited Arsenal’s tactics in 4-1 win
Bernardo Silva, the midfielder for Manchester City, has confessed that Mikel Arteta’s tactics were “ideal” to take advantage of, as Pep Guardiola’s team beat the Premier League leaders 4-1.
City’s commanding performance has brought them to within two points of Arsenal, who have played two more games than their closest rivals. As a result, City now has a significant advantage in the title race.
City’s opponents, Arsenal, failed to contain them with their man-marking tactics, which resulted in a complete City domination. After the game, Silva acknowledged that they had anticipated this outcome.
“We knew that they could come [playing] man-to-man, and we tried to stretch them as much as possible because if they play man-to-man against us they have to deal with Kevin [De Bruyne] and Erling [Haaland] up front,” he said. “It’s never going to be easy in that spot.
“This team was perfect for Kevin because they [defended] man-to-man and gave space to Kevin and Erling to run into,” Silva said. “When you give them this kind of space, they are so difficult to defend [against]. Two beasts running – Kevin with the passes, Erling with the scoring. Today was the opposite.
“They did it perfectly, they created lots of chances. We could have scored even more. Today we tried to leave them alone [upfield], give them as much space as possible to run and create chances and they did it perfectly.”
Silva acknowledges that playing alongside Haaland has been challenging for City, despite the striker’s impressive scoring record, and the team has had to put in effort to adapt to his style of play.
“We changed the way we play because we never had this kind of player up front,” Silva said. “The manager also changed the build-up a little bit from the past years so maybe it took us a bit of time to get used to it.”
When City plays against Fulham on Sunday, they will have an opportunity to move ahead of Arsenal in the Premier League standings.
This will be two days before Arsenal takes on Chelsea. City’s next match is against West Ham on Wednesday, May 3, which will be their first game in hand.
City and West Ham will eventually be on the same number of games played when City faces Brighton three weeks later.
Bernardo Silva explains how Man City exploited Arsenal’s tactics in 4-1 win
