Mauricio Pochettino said Tottenham Hotspur supporters should dare to dream of a first league title since 1961 following the 2-1 victory at Manchester City which took them to two points behind the leaders Leicester City.

While this was the fifth consecutive league victory for Pochettino’s side, Manuel Pellegrini was left unhappy at the officiating of Mark Clattenburg. The City manager insisted afterwards that the referee was wrong to judge Raheem Sterling had handled Danny Rose’s cross and award a 53rd-minute penalty from which Harry Kane opened the scoring. After Kelechi Iheanacho equalised on 74 minutes Christian Eriksen’s late goal secured three points for Spurs.

The north London club’s best finish of recent years was third place in the old First Division in 1989–90. Yet Pochettino, who celebrated with the travelling fans at the end, said: “The supporters are right to dream of the title. They showed big support from the beginning of the season and I say thank you to them. It is important for our supporters to believe.

“It is a very important moment to share with our fans. They are always fantastic and you need to show and say thank you in different ways. This is the way that is most important for them to appreciate and show they are very important for us.

“Always in football the supporters are the most important thing and they deserve, from our position, to say thank you. It was a very important victory. Our players deserve full credit for the performance. Like always you need to try and improve every day and we are now in a position, but is too early to talk about titles.”

He added: “Before the game people [said] it was a big test for us and it is important to show we can win. It is important to tell you that we are the youngest squad in the Premier League. It is important to start to feel that you can win in a stadium like Manchester City’s against a big, big team and you can win.”

Pellegrini was clear, though, Kane should not have had the chance to open the scoring. “It was a penalty that referee Mark Clattenburg wanted to signal for and he gave the signal. It was absolutely the wrong decision, it hit the back of Raheem Sterling then his elbow. Sterling was not even seeing the ball. It was the same referee in the first game where they were two clear goals in offside and we lost 4-1.

“It was the key moment that decided the game, before that they did not shoot towards our goal and did not have any chances. We took the risks, the spirit of the team was good but it was not enough. Unfortunately for us it was the same referee – Clattenburg – as we lost against Tottenham in the first round with two goals offside. It was decisive for the game. I don’t have nothing more to say.

The Chilean believes Clattenburg should not have been handed the match given his claim regarding the two goals in September’s reverse. “For me I don’t think it is a good decision to have the same referee,” said the manager. Pressed further on Clattenburg, Pellegrini offered a terse reply. “I am finished with the referee,” he said.

This was City’s second consecutive defeat following last week’s 3-1 home loss to Leicester. They have still failed to beat any of the top six and the noticeably irritated Pellegrini said: “I think they are better teams. We cannot beat them but we will see at the end of the season which is the best team.”

City remain six points behind Leicester in fourth. “We are going to continue fighting until the end,” insisted Pellegrini. “We still have 36 points to play for.”