Manchester City's Spanish international forward David Silva missed four matches recently because his prematurely-born baby son is fighting for his life, he revealed on Wednesday.

The 31-year-old -- who returned to the runaway Premier League leaders starting line-up for Tuesday's 3-1 win over Watford -- thanked everyone for their support on his twitter account @21LVA.

"Also I want to share with you the birth of my son Mateo, who was born extremely preterm and is fighting day by day with the help of the medical team," he tweeted.