Sean Dyche believes Everton’s point at Leicester is ‘positive mini step’

Sean Dyche insists his side took a “positive mini step” after they registered their first Premier League point of the season with a 1-1 draw at Leicester.

Iliman Ndiaye netted the opener as Everton went in front for a third successive match and were in position for a first win on the road in 2024.

But once again the Toffees failed to hammer home their advantage as Jesper Lindstrom passed up big chances and saves from Mads Hermansen kept Leicester in the contest.

It was the same old story for Everton in the second period, finally succumbing to Leicester’s pressure as Stephy Mavididi struck the equaliser as both sides wait for their first win.

Dyche was upbeat and insists it was a point gained rather than two lost.

Dyche: “It’s a point gained because we needed a point or three obviously and the positivity in the performances, they’re hard yards at the minute.

“Lots of noise, lots of negativity, showered the situation but I thought there was confidence in the performance and belief.

“That shows the mentality is right. We’ve come through these situations in my 20 months, even before that, now we have to do it again. It’s a mini step but a positive mini step.

“Getting on the right side of the margins over a season pays you back, at the minute there are a lot of question marks over myself, the situation, the first thing is try to get a win so I can last the season.”

Everton have now failed to win in their last three Premier League matches despite taking the lead in all three but Dyche thinks his side are progressing.

He added: “There were clear signs today, there were good defensive responsibility from the team, only two shots on target against us.

“We all know the big question mark, can we go kill a team off? We haven’t today. But we have to keep creating the chances like we did today, because we had some very good ones.

“I’ve never lost sight that we have to win a game, we haven’t won today but it was a mini step and positive mini step because of the good display.”

Foxes boss Steve Cooper hailed his side’s second-half performance but pointed to a poor first half for the reason his side dropped points.

Cooper: “We were the stronger team in the second half but nowhere near the level in the first half.

“We wanted to take the game to them and attack it and did everything but that. Without the ball we were second best in duels, races, and second balls.

“We were deservedly losing the game and players knew that as well – you can either go under and hide or do what we did, run a bit more, fight a bit more but after that we pushed and showed the right intent in the game.

“After that (goal) I thought we would go on and win although we didn’t manage the initial moments after equalising – we finished stronger but only managed to get the point.

“It’s a game and a result that should’ve been better but the way we played in the first half it could have been worse so we only deserve a point.”