Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva has remained optimistic that his side can still challenge for the Premier League title if the club’s fleet of injured players recover.

Bernardo played the full 90 minutes of City’s 2-2 draw away to Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon. The defending top-flight champions twice had to come from behind at Selhurst Park before Rico Lewis’ controversial red card derailed their chances of earning all three points.

City ended their seven-game winless with a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in midweek, but a draw this weekend leaves Pep Guardiola’s side languishing in fourth place, eight points adrift of a Liverpool side that have a game in hand.

Despite the club’s dire run of form, Bernardo offered some sense of perspective. “We’re in December,” the Portuguese midfielder told BBC Sport after the trip to south London. “We’d like to be in a different position. If we recover our players quickly we can always do it.”

Guardiola’s side have been without talismanic midfielder Rodri since September. Mateo Kovacic joined the Ballon d’Or winner on the sidelines last month while Phil Foden, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake all sat out the draw with Crystal Palace.

“With Man City it’s always two points lost. One point is better than zero but we’re not happy at the moment. We know our situation with injuries,” Bernardo admitted. “The last month and a half have not been good enough.”

City manager Guardiola struck a more negative tone. “It’s a season to survive,” the Catalan coach told reporters post-game. “We cannot talk about the title race when we lose four games in a row and draw.”

The festive flood of fixtures don’t give City’s injured players much time to recover. Four days after a trip to Italian giants Juventus in the Champions League, City host Manchester United in the first Manchester derby of the season. When Ruben Amorim last went head-to-head with Guardiola, his Sporting CP side romped to a 4-1 victory.

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