Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said he is surprised at the reaction to Manchester United not being awarded a penalty in Sunday s scoreless Premier League draw.
United were left aggrieved following the denial of a first-half spot-kick as Chelsea and the visiting Red Devils produced a 0-0 stalemate at Stamford Bridge.
In the first half, referee Stuart Attwell checked on the pitchside monitor to see if a penalty should have been awarded to United when a bouncing ball struck the raised hand of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who was tussling with Mason Greenwood.
Attwell stuck with his initial decision not to give the spot-kick and, much to the frustration of United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and full-back Luke Shaw.
0 Thomas Tuchel has become just the second manager to see his side keep a clean sheet in his first four home matches in the Premier League, after Brendan Rodgers in 2011-12 with Swansea City. Groundwork.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Afterwards, Tuchel – just the second manager to see his side keep a clean sheet in his first four home matches in the Premier League after Brendan Rodgers with Swansea City in 2011-12 – told reporters: For me it was no penalty. I was surprised and I m still surprised [at the reaction].
I didn t see it live where the penalty should come from, and when we checked on the pictures we have I couldn t see any incident that should qualify as a penalty. Until now I don t know why it should be a penalty.
It was another 0-0 affair between Chelsea and United – both matches in a league season failing to yield goals for just the second time after 1921-22.
Chelsea 0-0 Manchester Utd.
Here s today s highlights
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)
Chelsea are unbeaten since Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard – the Blues in the midst of a 10-match undefeated streak across all competitions.
Tuchel s Chelsea are fifth in the Premier League, one point adrift of the top four, six points behind second-placed United and 18 adrift of runaway leaders Manchester City through 26 rounds.
It would have been a big result. We tried everything to win, to be prepared for no other intention but to win, Tuchel said. We are in the middle of a battle to the top four.
We have closed the gap quickly and now is the moment to hang in and to show performances every three or four days.
I feel the team is very competitive and difficult to play against. We will be able to win games. We are still in the battle and that s the good news.
