Man City's draw at Norwich frustrates Manuel Pellegrini

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini was "frustrated" by their goalless draw at Norwich, but played down his side's failure to score for a second consecutive Premier League game.

City set a record of scoring 68 goals after 23 league games but lost 1-0 to Chelsea before the draw at Norwich.

Pellegrini said strikers Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo were not fully fit.

He added: "Every team will drop points but we are two behind [Chelsea] and we have 39 points to fight for."

After their victory at Etihad Stadium on Monday, Chelsea went top with a 3-0 victory over Newcastle, with Arsenal a point adrift in second after a 5-1 hammering at Liverpool and City in third.

Pellegrini added: "We are frustrated because we could not win but we did all we could do. But in front of us there was a team that defended very well, and we were not very creative."

Sergio Aguero, who is out with hamstring injury, and fellow strikers Negredo and Dzeko have scored 66 goals between them in all competitions this season.

Negredo and Stevan Jovetic started up front at Carrow Road, with Dzeko coming off the bench.

And though City looked to be lacking a spark, Pellegrini said his side were not affected by losing to Chelsea, which ended a 20-game unbeaten run.

"The team was more affected by the amount of players who were not 100% fit," he said. "Especially the three strikers, Sergio Aguero, Negredo and Dzeko. During the last weeks or the last week, they are not 100%.

"Negredo has had a problem with his shoulder [for] the last three weeks so that's why he can't play in the way he was doing before, but I hope with more days he will return to normal performance.

"Sergio has a lot of days more [to recover], it is important he recovers 100%. Dzeko's ankle is not in a good condition."

Norwich went close to snatching victory late on, but Pellegrini was not worried by the result, believing there are "five or six" teams who could still win the title.

"Firstly, all the teams will drop points," said Pellegrini, whose side host Sunderland on Wednesday. "Second, all of you are talking about Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City but be careful - there is Liverpool, and I said from beginning there will be five or six teams fighting for the title.

"The difference will be very slight and we are two points behind."