David Moyes believes there were positive signs on display from Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the narrow defeat to Aston Villa. The forward’s problems in front of goal continued at Goodison Park, the 27-year-old extending a goal drought that began in September when he fired a glorious late opportunity over the bar.

But his new manager is keen to look at Wednesday night’s disappointment as evidence of immediate progress, believing the fact chances were created for Calvert-Lewin - and that he was there to meet them - offers some hope a breakthrough could be close.

In the previous Premier League game for instance, the defeat to Bournemouth, Everton did not even have a shot on target. They had three against Villa, on top of Calvert-Lewin’s late effort.

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Speaking ahead of Everton’s game with Tottenham Hotspur, Moyes said: “What I would say is that I think Dom got three chances on Wednesday night, that might be three more than he's had recently. So it was a good sign that he got them. Now, we wanted him to maybe take one of them. So, overall, on the night, you're probably saying he's had three pretty good chances.

"People are telling me he hasn’t had many chances recently, so I think that gives me the feeling that, ‘hey, we made a few chances’, we just need maybe to finish them off.”

Moyes is assessing Beto’s potential to challenge Calvert-Lewin for a spot in the team, so believes there is competition even with the injuries to fellow strikers Armando Broja and Youssef Chermiti.

But he is also eager to stress that the pressure to break Everton’s goal scoring struggle falls across the team.

He added: “I still think that we could do with finding ways from wide areas where we could create more chances, we could get more good crosses in, wide players who can score would be helpful to take the pressure of the centre forward as well.”