Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 5y

Manchester City's Bernarndo Silva: Schedule 'a little bit complicated'

Bernardo Silva admits Manchester City are facing a tough winter schedule but he wouldn't have it any other way.

The Premier League leaders have eight matches in the next four weeks culminating in a game against closest rivals Liverpool. Silva, 24, joined at the beginning of last season from French side Monaco and the Portuguese midfielder said the busy period took some getting used to.

"It's a little bit different because both countries where I played before, Portugal and France, we had a Christmas break. Here you don't stop so it's a little bit complicated," he told reporters. "But it's good to play every three days. We complain a little bit but it's good because we love this game and we love to play. And it's a tradition in England so we have to respect it."

City maintained their strong start to the season on Tuesday night with a hard-fought victory away to Watford. Pep Guardiola made six changes from the side that beat Bournemouth at the weekend with the Catalan trying to rotate his squad through the hectic fixture list. And Silva believes it shows the quality in the squad that they have been able to carry on winning with so many changes.

"It says the squad is very strong and that's very important for us especially in December and January which are very tough months with a lot of fixtures and a lot of difficult games," he added. "So it's good to change players and not see the difference and to still get important wins like [against Watford]. We're very happy with the squad we have."

Despite their great start to the season, City's rivals are much closer than last season's record-breaking title victory.

"It will be a very tough year, we knew that," Silva added. "All our rivals are doing better this season than last season. So we have to focus on ourselves and then we'll see how our opponents do.

"Last season we had two more points -- this season we already conceded two draws and last season we only had one at this point of the season. I don't know if we're doing better but I think we're doing well.

"We just want to keep doing the same thing: forget about last season, know what we did last season was amazing breaking all the records. But this is another season and we have to try to win the Premier League again, against different opponents, stronger opponents in my opinion and it will be a tough season for us."

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