Jordan Pickford says he vowed to prevent Mohamed Salah from scoring when the Liverpool forward streaked through on goal during Sunday’s Merseyside derby – and the keeper was determined to reward Everton’s “quality” support with a clean sheet.

In a game of few openings for either side, Egyptian Salah had the visitors’ most presentable opportunity on 28 minutes.

Everton number one Pickford was equal to the away player’s effort, however, standing tall before thrusting out a strong right hand to repel Salah at close range.

The 24-year-old was otherwise rarely troubled. He made one much more routine stop from Salah in the first half and was largely redundant after the break, with defensive pair Michael Keane and Lucas Digne taking it in turns to extinguish Liverpool’s brightest attacking moments.

Asked what was going through his mind as Salah bore down on the Gwladys Street goal, Pickford told evertontv: “I was thinking, ‘You are not going to score past me’.

“I was telling myself, ‘Get in the right position, get in the right area and make yourself big’.

“It was a big save, one v one, I think I came out at the right time and did not guess.”

Everton’s derby draw completed a good week’s work following their victory five days earlier at Cardiff City, where Pickford also recorded a shutout.

The England number one – who has started and finished all 67 of Everton’s Premier League matches since joining from Sunderland in summer 2017 – joined manager Marco Silva and any number of his teammates in praising the partisan atmosphere inside Goodison Park on Sunday.

And he drew particular satisfaction from his second successive clean sheet – which Pickford hopes can act as the launchpad for a productive closing few months of the season.

“We knew it would be a tough game at the weekend and as a group of lads we were right up for it,” said Pickford, who will celebrate his 25th birthday on Thursday – two days before Everton visit Newcastle United.

“Not just us, the fans were quality before and during the game, and again at the end.

“It [playing in front of a fired-up Goodison] is quality… different class; and I think it really helps the team and our mentality going in to games. When the Everton fans are like that, it is amazing.

“They gave us a lot of motivation and you have to repay them. We could not get the three points but we got a draw and kept the clean sheet and that is very positive for the rest of the season.”

Pickford has four shutouts in his past eight Premier League games but was keen for Everton to piece together a good sequence of results.

Although disappointed Everton could not force a decisive goal against Liverpool, then, Pickford insisted it was vital his team followed the 3-0 win at Cardiff with a positive derby result.

“We worked hard as team and we had a duty to do that,” added Pickford.

“We knew how much it meant to the fans. The way they were before the game helped us start well and we maintained that momentum through the 90 minutes.

“You sometimes just need that extra bit of luck to get the goal but if you can’t score, don’t concede.

“I thought we did really well as a unit and it was a solid performance from all of us.

“We knew we’d have to ride out some pressure because they are a strong counter-attacking team but the defensive unit from front to back was great."