City face Everton at Goodison Park tomorrow night before hosting Chelsea on Sunday, and Silva said it would be “very difficult” to compete for the league if they failed to win both matches.
Pep Guardiola’s side bounced back from a shock defeat at Newcastle United last week by dismantling Arsenal at the Etihad on Sunday.
“We knew after the Newcastle defeat that we had to give a response to that game in front of our fans,” Silva said.
“We are happy with the way we played – it was a good performance and we are back to winning ways so mentally it is good for us.
Great performance! Wednesday there’s more! ?? @ManCity pic.twitter.com/ggTq2CxQCz
— Bernardo Silva (@BernardoCSilva) February 3, 2019
“Now we have two difficult games against Everton and Chelsea which we want to win. If we don’t, it will start getting difficult to fight for this Premier League.”
City had won eight matches in a row before the Newcastle defeat but Silva said there were areas in need of improvement despite the winning run.
“We know we have to improve even though we have some fantastic performances,” he said.
City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has said that Liverpool’s lighter fixture load could give them a major advantage. Liverpool are no longer in the FA Cup or League Cup and Gundogan said the lack of midweek games was key to his success at Borussia Dortmund, when he won the title under Jurgen Klopp.
“When you have no concerns in your mind you are able to win a lot of times. (At Dortmund) we had an advantage of just playing Saturday, Saturday, Saturday and the week off in between,” Gundogan said.
“He (Klopp) is in a similar situation now with Liverpool – just the Premier League and then the Champions League on top. Maybe it’s going to be an advantage for them, I don’t know. It’s nothing we can change right now.”
Meanwhile Harry Winks, the Tottenham midfielder, has said his side must win away matches at title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City if they are to remain in contention for top spot.
He said: “We have still got Man City to go to and Liverpool to go to, they are two games that if we want to be title contenders we have to win. We are happy with our position, we are doing really well and that is the most important thing.”