Manchester City ready for ‘crazy’ crunch month says Bernardo Silva

Bernardo Silva insisted Manchester City are ready for their crunch month after victory at Leicester.

The forward struck in the second half to earn Pep Guardiola’s side a 1-0 Premier League win on Saturday.

It opened a month where they return to the Champions League and start their Carabao Cup defence against Wycombe.

City host RB Leipzig in their first Group A game on Wednesday and travel to Paris Saint-Germain at the end of September, while they also face title rivals Chelsea in the Premier League.

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“This month is going to be crazy for us, everyone is ready,” Bernardo told mancity.com. “There are a lot of different competitions to play, tough games. When you are in this form it is easier to keep going because players have a lot of confidence.

“It was the perfect way to start an important month. The last three games before this we played well, today again. We have to keep up the momentum, winning and winning and winning. We have a lot of players hungry to play minutes.

“It was a really important win, especially because we know how difficult it is to play against Leicester. We know how good they are because we played them in the Community Shield.”

Bernardo scored after 62 minutes to end City's frustrations after Gabriel Jesus was twice denied by Kasper Schmeichel and Jack Grealish shot over.

The 27-year-old netted from an angle when Joao Cancelo’s drive was blocked by Caglar Soyuncu to leave Schmeichel stranded.

Silva was linked with a move away from the Etihad in the summer, but Guardiola expects big things from him this season.

He said: “I always have done, it’s an incredible situation. It’s not just the quality he played or the incredible runs or work ethic he has. We are happy he is here and in the future we will see what happens.

“He played really well in the last two games and today again. The connection with Jack [Grealish] and Joao [Cancelo] was brilliant.

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“After an international break it is not one of the best places to come to play and we played really well. We created a lot, unfortunately we didn’t score more goals.

“We suffered sometimes because they defended deep and had the counterattack. Kasper Schmeichel had the quality to put the balls in the right area. It was a difficult, we knew it because always we suffer against Leicester.”

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers said: "I feel most disappointed for the players because I thought they deserved more from the game from the opportunities they had. We had to defend but showed that resilience and mentality and we had our moments.

“In the moments we played through their pressure we looked a good side. We nearly got in with Barnes in the first half, in the second half we reinforced some tactical ideas to help us cope. We had good opportunities and then they get a little bit of luck with the ball falling to them.

“What is so important against Manchester City after their last few results is you stay in the game. We were right in there against a world-class team and unfortunately didn’t take something from it.

“I’m proud of how the team kept fighting and how competitive they were.”