Manchester City suffered a slight blip as they travelled to Molineux and failed to come up with all three points. Such is the standard set by Pep Guardiola that it is clear that the result wouldn’t have gone down well with him even though it is still early days in the title challenge. All major rivals of City managed to capitalise on this as the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur continued their hundred per cent record.
Bernardo Silva Is A Very Competent Replacement
Kevin De Bruyne would be a big miss for any side given the form he was in, but we believe Manchester City would come out of this testing time unscathed. The attacking outlet and creativity was driven by De Bruyne last season as he set up goals on the platter for the likes of Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero. However, in his absence, someone like Bernardo Silva can step in to perform the role of that creator. It is likely that the manager would keep on rotating between Ilkay Gundogan and David Silva for the other midfielder’s role as the Spaniard is expected to struggle to cope with the demands of the Premier League every week.
Some might question whether Bernardo Silva would be able to fill in that role in midfield after the little impact he had last season. However, Pep Guardiola lavished huge praises on the Portuguese after they won the Community Shield encounter beating Chelsea. He had said,”The performance of Bernardo Silva was a masterpiece. Everybody knows the wingers want to compete. Right now, it is Bernardo and ten others. But in 11 months it depends on what they show me on the pitch. Bernardo is far away from other guys, so that is why, at the moment, he plays. He is so intelligent, he is clever. He is a fighter, a competitor. I think he is the guy most beloved in our team and today he showed me a lot of things.”
Silva is traditionally a winger, but he is likely to play in a much deeper role in midfield as long as De Bruyne is out and given the quality he has shown, City would be well covered in the department.
Fixture List Is Man City’s Friend Here
Another factor which might help the Citizens is the timing of De Bruyne’s injury. Now there is no good time to get injured, but given the set of fixtures, City would be expected to wade through them without their talismanic midfielder. Pep’s men will be facing Newcastle United, Fulham, Brighton and Burnley at home with away trips to Cardiff City and Liverpool in between.
The Liverpool game is in October, and that marquee clash seems to be the only real obstacle for Pep Guardiola. If they are lucky, De Bruyne might be closing in on a return by that time, but even then, the run of fixtures and the international break would mean that City won’t miss their Belgian midfielder immensely.
Wolves might have taken a point off them recently, but we expect the City juggernaut to continue even without their best midfielder when they take on the Magpies next.
