David Silva admits there's a lot of tension inside the Manchester City locker room after defeat at Sunderland.

The defending champions face a tricky date at Norwich City today fully aware they are on the ropes and in danger of imploding still further.

Silva told The Sun: "The defeat in Sunderland was a hard blow for us. Nobody believed we would lose.

"As a team we have a huge desire to repeat our title success.

"But as we know that the Premier League is very open and if you give away chances you can be beaten. Even so, there was a lot of anger in the dressing room - and not only from the coach.

"Those three points were so important because in our situation they could make the difference between us winning and losing the title.

"And really, if we do not win at places like Sunderland, it is nearly impossible to fight for the success in this league.

"We have spoken about all this, about our irregular form. It's not a question of lack of quality or bad luck. Rivals know how to play against us and each day make it more difficult for us to triumph.

"Perhaps being knocked out of Europe had an influence but now we need to react and to demonstrate that City are the English champions."