West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini laments assistant referee's decision

Monday 4 February 2019 23:54, UK

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini believes the match officials cost his side victory after Liverpool's controversial opener in the 1-1 draw on Monday.

James Milner was in an offside position in the build-up to Sadio Mane's 22nd-minute strike, but the assistant referee's flag stayed down as West Ham were forced to come from behind at the London Stadium.

Michail Antonio cancelled out Mane's strike six minutes later, but Pellegrini was left ruing the assistant's decision at full time after his side produced a dogged display against the Premier League leaders.

He said: "I was pleased with the performance because I felt we played a very good game, but I'm disappointed with the result. They scored a goal that was a clear offside, one metre and a half offside in front of the linesman.

"They had a last option again in the last second which is one metre offside [Origi's chance], and we missed three or four chances especially in the first half which could've finished the game."

Despite the Chilean's frustration, this was a vastly-improved performance from his side compared to recent weeks, where results have appeared to have been affected by the uncertainty surrounding Marko Arnautovic's future.

The Austrian was absent on Monday night, and his replacement Javier Hernandez worked tirelessly with Antonio and the impressive Felipe Anderson to earn the Hammers a deserved point.

Pellegrini's men remain 12th in the table but are now just two points off Watford in eighth.

He added: "We returned to the pace we have shown in previous games. You can't play in any games if you don't have high pace.

"After we beat Arsenal, it was similar work that we did today. We created more chances tonight, but having lost those three games, the team we saw tonight is the team we must try to play from now until the end of the season."