Kompany rues City's lack of 'killer instinct'

The Belgian defender admitted he was left frustrated by his side's inability to break the deadlock, and is anticipating a closely fought battle for the Premier League title.As Manchester United close the gap at the top, Vincent Kompany has blamed the Manchester City strikers’ lack of “killer instinct” in front of goal for allowing their local rivals back into the title race.Roberto Mancini’s side were held to a goalless draw by West Brom on Boxing Day, meaning the Red Devils 5-0 victory over Wigan at Old Trafford was enough to see Sir Alex Ferguson's men draw level on points at the top of the table.Whilst Kompany has expressed his disappointment that City's array of striking power were unable to break the deadlock at the Hawthorns, the club captain hailed his team's defensive work, as they kept their third clean sheet in a row.He told reporters: “We had the chances to score, but didn’t have the killer instinct.“In the end it was a difficult game for us. For us it would have been perfect to score an early goal and that is what we set out to do.“We probably missed the edge on our finishing today – something that we have been so good at.“I still think for us there are some positives to take out of it. I don’t think it was a bad performance.“Overall it was a solid performance from them defensively and you have to give them credit for that.“That’s three clean sheets in a row and we are very confident we can go on and win the next games.”The Belgian defender is anticipating a fascinating climax to the Premier League season in the New Year, and admitted he expected the battle for top spot to be hard fought.He said: “We knew it would be close, there was no doubt about that.“We just pick up the points we should pick up. It is going to be an interesting second half to the season.”