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Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva believes his side face an uphill battle to catch Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Pep Guardiola's side find themselves seven points adrift of the unbeaten Reds after shock back-to-back festive defeats to Crystal Palace and Leicester City.

It's the first time for two years that City have lost two successive league matches and Liverpool have capitalised with victories over Wolves and Newcastle.

The champions host Jurgen Klopp's men at the Etihad on January 3 but Bernardo insists that even a City win in that fixture might not be enough to halt the Reds' title charge.

Speaking after Ricardo Pereira's spectacular late strike gave Leicester all three points, Bernardo told the BBC: “We started quite well but we weren’t able to play as usual and in the end they scored an amazing goal.

“We are not happy but we try to overcome the situation. Seven points to Liverpool is starting to be a lot.

“We are not playing as well as we want at this part of the season. We have to find an explanation.

See how we rated the players in Newcastle thrashing

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“We need to start winning games but we can’t rely on ourselves. Even if we beat Liverpool now it won’t be easy.

“We have lost two games that we shouldn't do if we are in a race for the title. There are a lot of games left and it’s mathematically possible but we have to be almost perfect from now.”

City are back in action on Sunday when they travel to face Southampton.