Pep Guardiola has admitted Everton deserved a penalty during Manchester City’s controversial win at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Everton were denied a late penalty during the club’s 1-0 defeat to City on Merseyside, with both referee Paul Tierney and VAR official Chris Kavanagh seeing no infringement despite the ball striking the arm of Rodri inside the penalty area.
The Toffees have since issued a formal complaint to the Premier League over the ‘quality of officiating’ and have demanded an apology following the VAR controversy.
Guardiola has now given his view on the incident and believes it should have been a penalty, with the Spaniard asked whether the decision could affect the outcome of the entire season.
“Entire season? Can this episode dictate a whole season? For sure I will review a lot of incidents,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference ahead of City’s clash with Peterborough on Tuesday.
“The pass from Dele Alli looks offside for Richarlison, if it’s not offside it’s a penalty.”
Having been beaten at home to Tottenham last weekend, Guardiola admits his side struggled during the opening exchanges of the win at Everton but says City are ready for the challenges of the run-in as the club compete on multiple fronts.
“Is one game, lose the next and momentum is over. We judge results about momentum, it’s not about this,” he said.
“First half we struggled to be quick, second half was much better, we concede almost nothing in the second half.
“Goodison Park is always difficult for City, it was not exceptional the celebrations because we knew how difficult it would be and a good example of what we will face the last 11 games in the Premier League. We will suffer, struggle and we are able to face it.”
