Everton 0 Aston Villa 0: Blues battle for point at Goodison

Most of all the returning Abdoulaye Doucoure who had the ball in the net for Everton very late on only for VAR to intervene and rule it out.

Villa's Alex Moreno also thought he had scored with an excellent long range strike in the first half but again the video assistant overruled it for offside as with Doucoure.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin also had a great opportunity to put the home side ahead in the first half but having got clear he couldn't beat Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez.

The striker's long goal drought continues and must be a cause of considerable concern for Sean Dyche.

Both teams had other chances but it certainly wasn't a classic and the visitors will feel they had enough clear opportunities, especially in the second half to win it. Jordan Pickford and his defenders made some important interventions to keep a clean sheet.

But in the end perhaps overall a 0-0 draw was a fair result as the match fizzled out later in the second half and became increasingly scrappy.

Although Everton will arugably be the more contented with a point against a side that has been scoring freely recently and sat second in the table before the match started, the poor quality of their finishing is becoming increasingly worrying.

As well as Calvert-Lewin's gilt-edged chance today there have been a number of good opportunities in recent game which they have failed to take.

When the Blues were in a good run if four wins after defeat to Manchester United, the team were finding goals from different players with Calvert-Lewin having not scored since getting the winner at West Ham in late October.

Doucoure's return will be very welcome in that respect as he is still the side's top scorer and could have added his seventh in this game.

Somehow though Dyche still needs to find ways to get more goals out of this team. it is difficult given the alck of aalternative attacking resources and he needs players like Arnaut Danjuma in for Dwight McNeil (who was poor) and Jack Harrison to contribute more.

It will be tight given all the constraints they are under but can the club go into the transfer market and try and find some players who might be able to help improve in this?

So, a point is not terrible at all although it would have been good to see one of those increasingly rare Gooidson Park wins.