Wednesday 30 December 2015 08:28, UK
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini felt his side were "solid and consistent" as they were held to a goalless draw by Leicester in the top of the table clash at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Foxes had to withstand a barrage of first-half pressure from their visitors but they held firm for the point that took them level with Arsenal at the top of the table.
Meanwhile, the Citizens climbed above Tottenham into third, but are without an away win in the league in six outings since a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace on September 12.
But Pellegrini took heart from a dominant performance against a side who had scored in each of their last 14 top flight home games.
"I'm happy because we came here to try and win the game and we went for the three points," he said in his post-match news conference, "We had more attempts than Leicester and [tried] to win the game, but if you can't win, then it's important not to lose.
"I think that tonight we were very solid and consistent team in defending against a difficult side as Leicester [who] have important players in a good moment and they always score goals. That's why I repeat, not happy but not disappointed also because we played well but we couldn't score."
Pellegrini refused to discuss the main talking point of the match when Sergio Aguero felt he was brought down in the box by Gokhan Inler.
"That was the decision of the referee," he said. "I don't want to talk about this decision because I didn't see the incident.
"Kun [told me] it was a penalty, but it's up to the referee to make the decision."
With four points from their last two games momentum appears to be building and Pellegrini expects City to challenge for the title.
He said: "I said when we lost to Arsenal that we prove a lot. We lost that game so it is very difficult when you don't win to say good things but we are in a very good position.
"We are going to be involved to the end in the fight for the league. We are in the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup and through in the Champions League so I don't think it is important to split it into home and away. We are very strong at home.
"I don't think in December you can say who will be in the frame to win the title. At the end of January after six or seven more games maybe we can see more which teams will be involved."
