James Tarkowski expects Everton to keep getting better heading into the Merseyside Derby

James Tarkowski expects Everton to make continued progress after extending their unbeaten run to four following their 0-0 draw with Aston Villa at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday.

The Blues, perennial slow starters in the league, have begun the season in fine fashion. They bounced back from a 1-0 loss to Leeds United with wins over Brighton and Wolves before being held to a goalless draw at home in a game where they completely outplayed Unai Emery’s side.

Everton had 20 attempts throughout the match, but only two shots on target. They finished with an expected goals (xG) metric of 2.24 - their highest in a Premier League match without scoring since January.

They also restricted the opposition to just seven attempts, with Jordan Pickford hardly tested from the one shot on target.

Tarkowski highlighted the positives from Everton’s display after the match against Aston Villa and expects continued progress from the team. "I think we're going to get better. We're going to keep progressing, keep improving with the players we've got here – there's some very good players on the bench who haven't been used to today who I think can be very exciting for us,” Tarkowski told evertontv.

"We've took on Villa and I know they've not had a great start to the season, but I think they're one of the best teams around. So to put a performance like that, to sort of dominate for most of the game, just despite we didn't get the goal in the end.

"[We're] slightly disappointed that we didn't win, but as a defender, it's a clean sheet – and I thought as a team we defended really well throughout the game and kept a team with very, very good forward players to very little chances.

"I also thought we got the ball wide to our exciting players, to our players who are going to create chances, got the ball into Beto a lot and we did all the right things without getting the goal in the end."

Despite the frustration of not being able to convert their chances against Villa, Everton players have a new goal to focus on. Up next is the 247th edition of the famed Merseyside Derby. 

The Toffees are heading into the game on a strong run of form, while the opposition have won all four of their Premier League matches, after a last-gasp penalty was enough to see them past the line against Burnley this weekend.

Tarkowski and his teammates are confident and insist that they will demonstrate their intent and winning mentality at Anfield.

"As a group, the manager set his stall out," the Everton vice-captain said. "He wants us right at the top half of the table and pushing up there. He showed us what we need to do to do that, the amount of goals we need, the amount of points we need. So he set his stall out and now it's up to us to go out there and do it over the season.

"It's been a good start to the season and progress is being made, for sure. I think [against Villa] was the best we've played, to be honest, without winning, so now we have to move forward again."

 

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