Bernardo Silva did not mince his words after Manchester City dropped two precious points in the title race at Crystal Palace. He should have scored, they should have won, but they are still in the driving seat of this Premier League campaign.
Understandably, Liverpool will only take more encouragement from the City result. Exactly two months ago Jurgen Klopp's side were 14 points behind the leaders (albeit with two games in hand) and on Wednesday they can close the gap to one if they win at Arsenal.
The challengers are currently more in form than the champions. While Liverpool are on an eight-match winning streak in the league, City have drawn two and lost one in that period.
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But, as Bernardo points out, that is still not enough to give the Merseyside club the initiative. The title race is still firmly in City's hands.
If they win all of their games, they will be champions; if they win eight of their games and draw at home to Liverpool, they will be champions; if they lose to Liverpool but pick up more points than them in the other eight games, they will be champions.
Klopp's side are also in control of their own destiny but it still feels like they have to be nearly perfect to win the title, going close to doubling their eight-match winning streak in what would be closing in on a Premier League record. If they are that good, City will hold their hands up.
The clash at the Etihad is looking like it will carry the significance of the Manchester derby in 2012 in deciding the title, yet while Liverpool look to be in better form recent results are against them. Klopp has never beaten Guardiola at the Etihad in the league, and the 2017 and 2019 defeats were particularly bruising results to live with.
Some City fans were spooked about Palace even before kick-off on Monday, and Patrick Vieira's side stopped the Blues from scoring again to earn a fourth point off them this season. A draw was disappointing, particularly in the circumstances of the title race.
However, as the team recovers and prepares for Southampton, the message from Bernardo should remind everyone that one tough night has not really changed that much for the season as they carry on battling for glory.
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"It's always better to win than to draw," he said. "We wanted to win, we wanted to have an advantage of six points to Liverpool with them [having] one game in hand. Four points [is the gap], they play Arsenal. We go and rest to play Southampton in the FA Cup. Nine games to go, very difficult fixtures ahead of us. We're going to be there and fight as usual for the title."
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