Bernardo Silva has suggested refereeing decisions going against Manchester City is costing Pep Guardiola’s side in the title race.
City fell seven points behind leaders Arsenal on Wednesday following the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium.
Silva was particularly disappointed with referee Darren England‘s decision not to award a penalty for Matz Sels‘ challenge on Erling Haaland with the score at 2-1.
And afterwards he admitted there was frustration in the dressing room because of a feeling that City have not been on the right side of marginal calls this season.
“I just think that all the 50-50 [decisions] this season have gone against us,” said Silva.
“All of them. And it’s quite frustrating. Because at the end, it makes a big difference in the title race.”
City were leading 2-1 when Haaland went down in the penalty area after Sels slid towards the Norwegian’s feet.
England waved away the appeals and the incident was checked and cleared by VAR Tony Harrington.
“So, if Erling is running, and the goalkeeper just crashes into him, what can he do, just disappear?” Silva argued.
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“The goalkeeper can just crash into someone? He’s not going to shoot the ball, because the goalkeeper comes at him. So what, he disappears?”
Dropping points against Forest coupled with Arsenal’s narrow win at Brighton leaves City with a mountain to climb in the title race.
Guardiola’s team face a crucial run before the March international break with five games in three competitions, including Saturday’s FA Cup clash at Newcastle, a two-legged Champions League tie against Real Madrid and the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal.
“I would say that in these few weeks we’re not going to win a lot, but we can lose a lot,” Silva said.
“So this month can keep us alive, apart from the Carabao final obviously, the rest of this month can keep us alive to fight for the competitions until the end, or it can put us down and we just go for one or two competitions.
“Hopefully, we will still be in all four of them in a month’s time.”
