The energetic midfielder produced a trademark tenacious display in the engine room against Graham Potter’s side.
His technical quality and ability in attacking positions rightly earns him plaudits, exemplified by his inclusion in last season’s PFA Premier League team of the season.
But speaking on our latest edition of Matchday Live, Esme Morgan instead highlighted an often understated side to his game.
“He’s (Bernardo Silva) great. He just zips about the place so well. He breaks up play and I think he really goes under the radar for what he does in terms of winning the ball back,” the City defender explained.
“I know people talk about his work ethic in the press and chasing down, but he makes so many tackles and I’d love to see his stats on ball recoveries because he wins it back so often, just nipping around the heels of the other team’s midfielders.
“It’s just because he’s so intelligent. He reads the game so well and in possession he keeps the ball moving and the tempo high.
“I just love watching him play.”
In an electric first half against Chelsea, City raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Riyad Mahrez, Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden.
Mahrez added a fourth in the second 45 as Pep Guardiola‘s men saw out a comfortable victory.
And Morgan believes City executed our game plan perfectly to advance to Round Four of the competition.
She added: “We looked so dominant. We stayed composed in the second half and we passed them to death.
“Pep wouldn’t have wanted us to go or another three or four goals and leave ourselves open and concede.
“He wants to dominate and win games convincingly with clean sheets and that’s exactly what we did.
“We executed it really well.”
