Pep Guardiola feels like a part of him is leaving Manchester City as the club prepares for the departure of captain Bernardo Silva.

It was announced this week that Silva, who joined Man City from Monaco in 2017, will be leaving at the end of the season.

The Portugal international has won 15 major trophies with City, including six Premier League titles, the Champions League, two FA Cups and five EFL Cups – the most recent of those coming last month after a 2-0 final victory over Arsenal at Wembley.

City face Arsenal in a pivotal clash in the Premier League title race on Sunday.

Ahead of that contest, Guardiola, whose own future is also unclear, told reporters: "When these types of players are going, and there have been many in the last years, part of myself is leaving too.

"It will be difficult imagining [the club] without him. He made an incredible statement for nine years and he has been massively, massively, massively important.

"Hopefully, we can deliver for him, [and] he's going to help us. I know that. He's a special player. Hopefully we can deliver a good month, a good few days, because he deserves it, he deserves the best.

"We've won 19 titles together, we are still challenging for two more and we are going for it, that's for sure. We are looking forward to the start and do our best."

Silva played his 297th Premier League game in last week's 3-0 win at Chelsea, the most by any Portuguese player in the competition's history.

He will end his City stint with the second-most appearances in the competition for the club, after David Silva (309).

The 31-year-old has scored 45 goals and provided 50 assists for City in the top tier.

"Ederson, Kevin [De Bruyne], [Ilkay] Gundogan, Kyle [Walker] and Manuel [Akanji] and a lot of players who made a lot of things here, are not here any more," Guardiola added.

"Most of them are new and we will see. [Rayan] Cherki, for example, has never won the Premier League, so we don't know how he is going to behave in that position.

"There are a lot of players who are going to play who maybe will win their first Premier League title. I don't know how they will behave. There are many things you cannot control."