Petr Cech insists his view was blocked for Raheem Sterling's winning goal in Arsenal's 2-1 defeat to Manchester City

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James Benge19 December 2016

Petr Cech has claimed his view of Raheem Sterling’s match-winning shot was blocked, perhaps by David Silva, as Arsenal slumped to a second league defeat in five days.

Arsene Wenger was incensed by referee Martin Atkinson’s decision to award both Manchester City goals in their 2-1 comeback win but said he was particularly aggrieved by the awarding of the second, where Silva appeared to run across Cech’s path and attempt to divert Sterling’s strike.

Cech admitted that he could not be sure whether it was Silva who blocked his view of the effort though replays suggest the Manchester City midfielder was likely the only player who could have impeded his line of sight.

“I have to say that there were players in front of the ball, so I didn’t even see the shot,” Cech told Sky Sports. “To be honest, there were people running across and I don’t know if one of them was David Silva or not, but I didn’t see the ball because it was behind the players.”

The offside law would require Silva to have been “clearly attempting to play a ball which is close to him when this action impacts on an opponent” for Sterling’s goal to be chalked off.

Defeat to Manchester City, which as in their loss to Everton saw Arsenal turn a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit, leaves Cech’s side nine points behind league leaders Chelsea.

It had seemed that Arsenal were set to lay down a major gauntlet for their title challenge after 45 minutes, with Theo Walcott’s early strike reward for a display full of menace in defence and an organised rearguard.

But a mixture of contentious offside calls – it was not immediately clear whether Leroy Sane was level with the defence when he burst through to slot past Cech early in the second half – and lacklustre play from Arsenal handed the initiative to City, who leapfrogged both the Gunners and Liverpool to take second place, seven points off leaders Chelsea.

Cech though is hoping that Arsenal can replicate his former side Chelsea’s winning run and get back into contention in the title race.

“We had two games away and we wanted to get as many points as possible, and we have none,” Cech added. “We are disappointed with that, we’ve given the other teams that are on top the advantage.

“But there’s a long way to go and we can come back, ideally win the next game and then get on a run. Anything can happen so we need to concentrate on ourselves, go back to winning games and we’ll see what the others will do.”

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