Mancini plays down defeat

Roberto Mancini declared that Manchester City’s first Premier League defeat of the season ‘changes nothing’ about their title charge.

The City manager felt his team did not get the rub of the green in their 2-1 loss against Chelsea on Monday, citing the failure of referee Mark Clattenburg to give a first-half penalty for Jose Bosingwa’s foul on David Silva.

But the Italian does not expect the loss to derail the Premier League leaders, who still hold a two-point advantage over second-placed Manchester United.

“This defeat changes nothing for us. We know we lost this match but the season is very long and very hard,” he said.

“We did not deserve to lose this game but we did lose and it is finished now. Our next game against Arsenal is difficult and we need to focus on that.”

“After the start I predicted we would win the game as we played very well. It is unusual for a team to come here and play like this in the first half. The game changed after the sending-off. After that, it was difficult.”

Mancini felt Bosingwa’s trip on Silva was a stonewall spot-kick.

“There was a big penalty and everyone in the stadium saw the penalty. The referee (Clattenburg) was very close but didn’t see it,” he said.

Mancini did not criticise the apparent celebrations by Chelsea in the tunnel, after it was rumoured that words were exchanged between the two sets of players.

“They (Chelsea) were really happy after this game. It is normal after you beat a top team. It is disappointing for us,” he said.