MANCHESTER CIty STRIKER Edin Dzeko believes in-form team-mate David Silva is the best player in the Premier League.
Silva and Dzeko were highly influential as City thumped Newcastle United 5-0 on Saturday to capitalise on leaders Chelsea’s surprise draw with Burnley earlier in the day.
It was Silva who laid on Dzeko’s first-half goal with a sublime lofted pass and the Spain international went on to score twice himself early in the second period, before being withdrawn ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Barcelona.
Invited to comment on the quality of Silva’s assist, Dzeko hailed his team-mate as the finest in the division.
He told Sky Sports: “The pass from David was first-class … and for me he is the best player in the Premier League. To have him here with us is an amazing thing, because with David you can always score goals.”
City, who have come from behind late in the season to claim each of their two Premier League titles to date, now trail Chelsea by five points with 12 rounds of matches remaining.
And manager Manuel Pellegrini believes they have enough time to overhaul the leaders Chelsea in the title race.
“I’m very pleased because we returned to being a scoring team here at home and also because we didn’t concede goals,” he told BBC Sport .
“Of course if the other teams drop points it’s better for us, especially Chelsea because we don’t depend on just what we can do.
“All the other teams are behind us in the table, so it doesn’t matter what they do if we continue winning. If we want to continue fighting for the title, we need Chelsea to drop more points, but we have to play [for] another 36 points more, so that’s a lot of time.”
