saving grace

[Eugene2114]

Hi,
Some lenghty excerpt to make you sense it:
“Now, there was a time a few weeks back when Manchester City were blitzing all in front of them, scoring goals for fun and racking you up unlimited fantasy football points - unless, like me, you ditched Leroy Sane after he started the first game of the season on the bench. The rest of the Premier League's only saving grace was that surely once Pep Guardiola's side had to tough it out, they'd come unstuck.”

Again, I was feeling uncomfortable about some phrase-- the ‘saving grace’-- there. I can’t see anything justifying its usage in the context: “…only hope\secret wish” is what I would think of (meaning City coming unstuck would save the blushes of the rest.) (?)

[Eugene2114]

I’d think of ‘silver lining’ as a substitute too…

[Luschen]

I don't think "saving grace" means only hope for secret wish here. It means one good thing that keeps something from being completely bad. The only thing good about the rest of the Premier League is that eventually Pep Guardiola's team will fall apart.

Silver lining is a little different. It means a bad thing that actually has one good aspect.

Let's say you go on a beach trip and it rains the whole time. A saving grace would be if it stopped raining and was sunny the last day so you could get a tan. A silver lining would be if it rained the whole time, but at least you got a lot of reading done sitting on the porch.

[Eugene2114]

[Luschen]

Hi Eugene, yes, I admit looking at the official definitions, I guess I am wrong in seeing that there is a clear distinction between silver lining and saving grace.