Nigel Pearson claims Leicester were denied three penalties in loss at Manchester City

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson said his side should have been awarded three penalties in their 2-0 loss at champions Manchester City on Wednesday night.

The visitors had two strong appeals for spot-kicks, one in each half, the first midway through the first period when Riyad Mahrez was bundled over in the box following a clumsy tackle by City striker Wilfried Bony.

Then six minutes after half-time referee Robert Madley awarded Leicester a free-kick following a foul by Fernando on Andrej Kramaric, only for replays to suggest the offence had actually taken place inside the area.

And when asked if his team should have had been awarded those penalties, Pearson told Sky Sports News: "Yes. Simple answer. Three throughout the game - Kramaric in both halves, the second one you could probably say was a bit more marginal, but there was contact. The third one on the line is in the box."

However, when pressed on the matter Pearson refused to elaborate: "I am not talking about them (referees), sorry. Not tonight. You can talk about them and ask the relevant authorities. I don't think there is any point me talking about the referee. Same one we had against Tottenham."

The result left Leicester bottom of the table, but Pearson has no doubts about the spirit in his squad.

"They are a resilient group so we will have to get on with it,” he added. “We can't do anything about it. It is up to the authorities. Our players give everything they have got and they have done again tonight.

"There are lots of positive and we have to take them into the remaining games. There is no point dwelling on negative aspects of situations that we have no control of."