Sean Dyche praised the defensive performance of his side as Everton held Aston Villa to a goalless draw at Goodison Park.
Neither side was able to find a breakthrough on Merseyside, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin missing Everton’s best opportunity when Emiliano Martinez saved from the forward one against one.
Villa, who missed the chance to go level on points with Premier League leaders Liverpool, were held to a goalless draw for the first time in 97 games under Unai Emery.
The visitors had a goal disallowed in the first half, when Alex Moreno drilled in from the edge of the area. The Spaniard’s strike was ruled out for an offside after a lengthy VAR check.
The draw leaves Everton a point above the relegation places and Dyche was pleased with a battling defensive performance from his team.
“Aston Villa are a good outfit and they could have gone joint-top today. We continue to be a work in progress We’ve come out with a clean sheet against a top side,” Dyche told BBC Match of the Day.
“We had the best chance of the game and a couple of other chances. Overall, we’ll take the clean sheet and the point.
“Our defending today was excellent. Second half they had a lot of the ball without really opening us up too many times. but we couldn’t really find our game.
“We couldn’t really get hold of the game with possession. If you can’t do that you have to make sure you get hold of it without possession. Dom [Dominic Calvert-Lewin] is certainly in the right position to go through, the keeper makes a good save. Sometimes you have to hold your hands up to that.
“The consistency is there. The will and the demand and the physical side of the game. We’ve got to keep getting back to that. It’s a work in progress. We focus on the realities.”
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