David Silva is aiming to leave his World Cup amigo Cesc Fabregas playing catch-up when top-four rivals Arsenal come to the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday.
The talented pair finished on top of the world with Spain in South Africa this summer, and City ace Silva is determined that the Blues will finish ahead of the Premier League pack to make it a double.
His long-time friendship with Gunners midfielder Fabregas went on ice this week as David prepared for a match he believes will have a significance for both teams in the challenge for top spot this season.
He said: "Arsenal play very good football, they have young players with a great desire to play. So it's a difficult match but we are at home and we will try our best to beat them.
"They are a threat, no doubt about that. Arsenal are good to watch but they are very competitive - they will be fighting for the title with Manchester United, Chelsea and of course, Manchester City.
"But if we win, we will be six points ahead of them. That's a good distance at this stage of the season, and also it would keep the pressure on Chelsea. If they don't win, we can either be level or take over at the top.
Cesc and I get on very well, we are
good friends. We played together in
the Under-17 team for Spain and from
then on we have been close
"We talk and text each other. But I won't be sending him any texts before the game, because I don't want to tempt fate - and I hope that I will be passing on my sympathy to him afterwards!"
David came off the bench at Blackpool to conjure one of the goals of the season so far and hopes his heroics will lead to more starts: "I am there for the manager, and of course a player always wants to play!
"The goal worked out perfectly for me - I was already in the area when the pass came so they had to be careful not to give away a penalty. I had to curl the shot round a defender and the goalkeeper wasn't expecting that.
"I hope that's not the only one of those I score! I'm here to score plenty, so I hope that there will be many more like that in the future, not just for me but for some of my team-mates as well."
MCFC.co.uk
I fucking love this lad, he was class last night hope he has a good game against Arsenal
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