Leicester City vs Arsenal: Claudio Ranieri refuses to criticise Mark Clattenburg for not awarding champions with a penalty
Leicester City 0 Arsenal 0: The Foxes supporters believe they should have been handed at least one spot-kick during the draw with title rivals Arsenal at the King Power Stadium
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Your support makes all the difference.Claudio Ranieri, the Leicester City manager, has refused to criticise referee Mark Clattenburg for not awarding the Premier League champions with a penalty during the stalemate with Arsenal.
Both sides are still searching for a first victory of the season after firing blanks at the King Power Stadium but it could have been different for the hosts had Clattenburg handed them a spot-kick in either half for challenges on Danny Drinkwater and Ahmed Musa.
While Laurent Koscielny’s tackle on Drinkwater appeared to comply with the rules of the game, once television replies had been taken into account, a late flare-up between Hector Bellerin and Musa has caused controversy with the home indignant that a penalty was not awarded.
“I don't know [whether they were penalties]. I am not a manager who says 'Oh, there was a penalty.' For me it's okay,” Ranieri said. “The referee made a very good performance and a penalty happens when the referee whistles. He didn't whistle and there wasn't [a penalty].”
Despite collecting just one point from their opening two matches, Ranieri insists he is happy with his reigning champions and says he can draw a lot of positives from the 0-0 gridlock with Arsenal ahead of the visit of Swansea City next weekend.
The Italian added: “The manager makes mistakes, the referee makes mistakes, the players make mistakes. It was a good match; that's it for me. It was a good performance. The result is good and we deserved a little more but it's okay. They kept more possession and were very dangerous but without a clear chance.
“I am happy for the spirit and union of the team. I watched our spirit in a very good performance against a good team.”
Speaking about the potential penalties, Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said: “It's very difficult to know. You have to watch it again in slow motion and see what really happened.
“Leicester is very good at provoking in the box - they got many penalties last year - so you never know if it is really a penalty or not.”
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