The visitors snatched the lead through Philippe Coutinho’s 24th-minute goal but Manuel Pellegrini’s men were back on level terms seven minutes later through a Vincent Kompany header.
The winner came on the stroke of half-time when Alvaro Negredo raced clear. The Spaniard’s shot lacked power and Mignolet was able to get a hand to it but was only able to palm it over his head and send it bouncing into the net.
The Belgium international said afterwards: “It is one of those things that happens, unfortunately, when you are a goalkeeper. Any goal you concede is a disappointment.
“I probably should have done better with it. I’ve been there in the past as a goalkeeper and you have to accept it and move forward to the next game.
“It was a very awkward moment for us just before we went into half-time.
“It gave them a lift and we went in being down but then again in the second half we lifted our heads and tried to create as many chances as we could.”
The 25-year-old insists there was no blame laid at his door by team-mates, adding: “You always win with 11 and lose with 11 and more importantly also with the people on the bench.
“We don’t want to look for excuses because every game you lose it is always up to you and it is your team performance which counts but we can gain a lot of confidence from this game.
“I thought we played well and created a lot of opportunities but unfortunately we came out with a defeat rather than the three points because I think we had chances to win the game.
“We can certainly take positives out of this game moving forward to the Chelsea game at the weekend. We have to make sure we prepare ourselves for Chelsea and do things right there.”
Written by Steve Milne – Have your say below 🙂
