Dominic Calvert-Lewin admitted he was frustrated not to taste derby joy but felt Everton could “look at the bigger picture” after twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 against Liverpool at Goodison.

In an action-packed game, the visitors went ahead early on through Sadio Mane, only for Michael Keane’s bullet header on 19 minutes to level the contest.

Liverpool retook the lead after Mohamed Salah’s precise finish but the Blues showed great resolve to fight back for a second time when Calvert-Lewin rose high to head home Lucas Digne’s whipped cross with nine minutes to go for the striker’s 10^th goal of the season.

In the process, Calvert-Lewin became the first Everton player to score in each of the Club’s first five league games in a campaign since Tommy Lawton in 1938/39.

There was still time for Richarlison to be shown a straight red card and for Jordan Henderson to have his injury-time effort ruled out for offside as the 237^th Merseyside derby ended all square.

Everton came into the match boasting seven straight wins in 2020/21. And with Calvert-Lewin also high on confidence courtesy of his lethal form in front of goal for both Club and, more recently, country, the 23-year-old confessed the Blues were disappointed not to make it victory number eight against their rivals.

But he also stressed the importance for Carlo Ancelotti’s team to take encouragement for the way they battled back to keep their unbeaten record intact and the clear signs of progress being made under the Italian.

“In the end [we are happy with a draw] but we’re disappointed that we didn’t kick on at 1-1,” said Calvert-Lewin. “We’d done well to get ourselves back in the game.

“It’s coming, I genuinely believe it’s coming. I thought today would be the day but not to be.

“I’m disappointed as I wanted to win the game today. The fans did, too, so in that respect it’s frustrating but in terms of the bigger picture we got a point and take it on to the next game. We didn’t lose and we want to keep that unbeaten run going.”

As well as his Club record, Calvert-Lewin is the first player from Europe’s top five leagues to net 10 goals across all competitions this season.

The forward was unfortunate not to score before his leveller after another teasing cross from Digne, while Richarlison also went close when he headed James Rodriguez’s centre against the post.

On his crucial leveller, Calvert-Lewin added: “It’s one of my strengths that I’ve started to exploit. I’ve always had that in my locker and now I’ve got the boys looking for me in the box which always helps and I’m getting in the box to exploit it.

“I’m not sure why we came out of the blocks slowly as we’ve been doing well and were confident coming into the game but it shows that we’ve made strides to be able to get ourselves back in the game and were unfortunate not to go ahead when Richi hit the post so we had chances to go on and win it but we didn’t take them.”