Manuel Pellegrini felt Man City should have been awarded penalty in Everton draw

Manuel Pellegrini said it was "unbelievable" that Manchester City were not awarded a late penalty in their goalless draw with Everton.

Raheem Sterling went down in the area in injury-time after a sliding challenge from John Stones, but referee Roger East did not point to the spot.

"Everyone knows we should have had a penalty," Pellegrini told Sky Sports. "It was so clear that it was unbelievable the referee didn't give it, but that was just one action, we had a lot of options to score before the penalty also.

"Everyone always says Raheem dives, I don't think he does, he is a very fast player which is why he gets a lot of fouls.

"Maybe what has happened before is one of the reasons why the referee didn't give the penalty. But most of the time Raheem falls down it is because it is a foul."

City dominated the second half at the Etihad but were unable to find a way past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.

The American twice saved from Sergio Aguero and also denied Sterling as the visitors held out for a point.

"The second half was complete domination from us," said Pellegrini. "We had 17 shots, created at least four or five clear chances that the goalkeeper saved and then the penalty, but unfortunately we couldn't score.

"I think we were very unfortunate not to score, when we don't create chances you can complain about the way you play, but tonight we created so many chances but couldn't score."

The draw keeps City three points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal after they were pegged back to draw 3-3 with Liverpool.