Manuel Pellegrini believes Manchester City were unlucky to draw 0-0 against Everton and that the referee denied his side a clear penalty.
The Toffees provided stubborn opposition at the Etihad, and City could not find the crucial breakthrough to earn themselves the three points.
However Pellegrini believes that his side should have been awarded a penalty for a challenge on Raheem Sterling by John Stones, after a second half which his side dominated.
“Everyone in the stadium could see it, it was so near the referee and so clear,” the frustrated City manager bemoaned.
“Both Raheem’s legs were taken by Stones but if he doesn’t whistle we can’t say anything.
“Maybe it was a close game in the first half with few chances but in the second half, we dominated possession and shots – I think we did enough to win.
“We deserved more than a draw.”
However the Citizens could not find the back of the net with any of the 22 shots they registered, and only five of them were on target as they recorded a first 0-0 league draw since November 2010 against Birmingham.
Tim Howard in particular was in fine form for the visitors, putting in a man-of-the-match display to keep the deadly Sergio Aguero at bay.
The Argentine has now scored in just four of his 14 Premier League appearances this season, and just once in his past five league games.
Pellegrini tried to find positives from the result in the form of his sides improved defensive performance, however he could not hide his frustration.
“Maybe we improved in defending tonight but three or four weeks ago when we couldn’t keep clean sheets I said I would rather win games than keep clean sheets and draw,” the Chilean manager stated.
“It’s two dropped points – not because we’re at home but because we had a lot of merits to win the game in a clear way.
“For different reasons, we couldn’t score and of course if you drop two points here and others win away, it’s not a good day for us.
“But we have 17 games left – normally we score here. I can’t believe how many chances we had and how many saves their goalkeeper made.”
Image courtesy of BBC via YouTube, with thanks.
