Bernardo Silva has offered a cool, if pointed, assessment of Arsenal’s rise as Manchester City’s fiercest domestic challenger, insisting it was “only natural” that Mikel Arteta’s side would eventually “man up” and fight for major honours.

Arsenal stand on the brink of a first Premier League crown since the fabled Invincibles season, having spent five years steadily building under Arteta. For Silva, that timeline explains their emergence as a genuine threat rather than a romantic underdog story.

“They’ve been growing and, well, it’s a team that has been together for, what, five years now,” the City captain told The Athletic. “So it’s only natural that they would man up a little bit and start challenging for titles, so, yeah, let’s see what happens.”

City, serial champions under Pep Guardiola, have already bloodied Arsenal’s nose this season with a League Cup final victory at Wembley. For long stretches it appeared they might also overhaul them in the league, only for a chaotic 3-3 draw with Everton to hand Arsenal a slender advantage heading into the decisive run-in.

Arsenal’s remaining fixtures against Burnley and Crystal Palace leave them in control of their destiny, while City must navigate Bournemouth and Aston Villa and hope for a slip. That equation clearly grates on Silva, who believes City’s own inconsistency has opened the door.

“I do believe our main rivals in my time at City were Liverpool by far,” he said. “I also believe, and I know this is very subjective, that if we were not in a transitional season and if we didn’t make so many mistakes, we would have won this league. I don’t say we would have won easily, but we would have won this league – so it’s quite frustrating.”

Controversy has swirled around the title race, not least after West Ham’s late equaliser against Arsenal was ruled out following a VAR review for a foul on goalkeeper David Raya. While many City supporters raged, Silva was more pragmatic.

“I think it’s a foul,” he said, before turning his fire on officiating standards. “The only problem is the consistency of the referees. It’s a foul on Raya, but it’s quite frustrating when they allow this type of contact at times during the season and then they decide not to allow it in such a game.”

Silva also took aim at what he sees as a creeping trend in Arsenal’s set-piece-heavy, game-management approach.

“You look at what has been happening with set pieces in the last two seasons and it’s a bit of a shame to see teams taking one minute over throw-ins, free kicks, goal kicks, corners. I wouldn’t say that’s the way the game should be going.”