James Tarkowski believes Everton’s closely-contested 0-0 draw against Aston Villa highlights the developments his side have made, labelling the Blues as “a team in progress.”

The visitors – third place in the Premier League – entered Sunday afternoon’s fixture at Goodison Park knowing that a win would take them level on points with Liverpool at the top of the table.

However, a well-organised Everton display meant Unai Emery’s high-flyers headed back to the Midlands with a single point, after a game which saw both sides have a goal each ruled out for offside.

The Blues’ stubborn defending ensured they earned their seventh clean sheet of the season, and no side has more in the Premier League.

A key part of that, Tarkowski – carrying a cut on the face following a feisty affair – reviewed the afternoon’s action.

“We always want to win games, but I think they’re a good side,” he acknowledged. “We had a good chance with Dom (Calvert-Lewin) but didn’t create loads and loads of chances. We defended resiliently and got the clean sheet, which is important for us. We build from there.

“Sometimes we get suffocated when we defend for five minutes but we don’t always keep the ball for a long period of time, so it feels like they’re back on the attack again. We’ll work on that but we’re a team in progress. It’s a point on the board and we’ll keep building.”

The aforementioned chance fell to Calvert-Lewin just before first-half stoppage time. Arnaut Danjuma released the Everton striker with an accurate ball into the Villa half. Closing down on the goal, he found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Emi Martinez, but his effort was well saved by the Argentinian.

Tarkowski knows his teammate will be frustrated to have not found the back of the net, but was keen to point out the key role that the forward plays within the team.

“He’ll be disappointed – of course he will,” said Tarkowski. “He just needs a goal at the minute and hopefully a scruffy one goes in off him at some point and he’ll get on a roll.

“He’s a very important player for us and he knows that. The goals will come. He does a lot of work for us which doesn’t always get noticed by everyone else, but we all see it. There’ll be a goal soon.”

The reverse fixture at Villa Park saw Everton fall to a 4-0 defeat in August, and Tarkowski insists Sunday’s result outlines the developments his side have made since then.

The goalless draw was only the third time this season that Aston Villa have failed to score in a Premier League game and discussing the significance of the result, Tarkowski added: “I think it’s an important clean sheet. Especially given the way we played against them at the start of the season. It was 4-0 and they battered us, so to see where we’ve come from that day to now, keeping a clean sheet, and we could’ve won it.

“It probably would’ve been a bit of a steal at the end [had Doucoure's effort been onside], but we take the point. It’s been a positive week. We trained really well, and we performed really well today. We look forward to the cup on Wednesday.”