Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva has launched an attack on Arsenal for their time-wasting tactics in their 2-2 draw – and has mocked the Gunners for their lack of trophies in recent seasons compared to Liverpool.
John Stones delivered a 98th-minute equaliser after City had laid siege to 10-man Arsenal‘s goal in a dominant second-half display at the Etihad Stadium. The home team had 28 shots to the visitors’ zero in the second 45.
But for all of their possession, City will be disappointed with how little they asked of goalkeeper David Raya in a heated second half until Stones’ late leveller.
Mikel Arteta‘s side appeared to deliberately try to run the clock down in the second half as they chased a famous away win in their bid to win a first league title since 2004. Multiple players went down with cramp much to the frustration of the home crowd.
And their approach to the game when down to 10 drew a withering response from Silva, who accused the Gunners of spoiling the match.
The Portugal international said post-match: “There was only one team that came to play football. The other came to play to the limits of what was possible to do and allowed by the referee, unfortunately.
“But at the end we got a draw, the best we could get considering the context of the last moments of the match.
“We’re not happy as we wanted the three points, but personally I’m happy with the way we came to play and faced the game. I’m glad we always enter the pitch to try to win every match.”
Silva claimed Arsenal‘s tricks started from kick-off in the second half and accused referee Michael Oliver of allowing the away team to wind the clock down.
He added: “It all started in the very first second. In the first action we realised what was going to happen. We had a player injured after they sent him to the ground twice in 10 minutes.
“We had a goal conceded after the referee called our captain and then didn’t allow him to recover his position. The second goal is already their usual block to our keeper allowed by the referee.
“Then the referee allowed a sequence of time-wasting events. The thing that bothers me the most is having a lot of meetings with the FA at the beginning of each season.
“They tell us they will control this kind of situation and will stop them, but in the end it doesn’t have any worth. They say a lot but nothing happens.”
Silva took another swipe at Arsenal as he compared the Londoners to their other title rivals Liverpool, who he mentioned won the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020.
Arsenal, by contrast, have never won the Europe’s premier competition and are without a league title for two decades. Their last trophy was the FA Cup in 2020.
“The difference? I don’t know,” said Silva. “Maybe that Liverpool have already won the Premier League, Arsenal haven’t. That Liverpool have won the Champions League, Arsenal haven’t.
“Liverpool always faced us face to face to try to win the games, so from this perspective the games against Arsenal haven’t been like the ones we had and have against Liverpool. So yes, maybe a different rivalry.”
