What Sean Dyche keeps reminding Dominic Calvert-Lewin after 13 Everton games without a goal

Sean Dyche believes Dominic Calvert-Lewin is on the verge of getting his breakthrough goal.

The striker has not scored since October, a run that includes 13 appearances without a goal as he has returned to fitness but struggled to continue the form that followed his reintroduction into the first team at the end of the summer.

For Dyche, Calvert-Lewin is integral for many more reasons than the goals he scores - the 26-year-old considered a vital feature in making Everton work as an attacking force.

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And he does not think it will be long before the forward adds to his tally after another blank against Aston Villa, against whom Calvert-Lewin had the best chance of the game.

Calvert-Lewin had time to think as he bore down on Emilano Martinez’s goal at the end of the first half after Arnaut Danjuma slipped him beyond Villa’s revered offside trap. He scored from a similar opportunity at Villa Park earlier this season but on this occasion saw his effort blocked by Martinez. Dyche acknowledged it was a big opportunity and said: “In the first half we have a key moment, if that goes in it might change the way the game feels but we will not know.”

Asked whether Calvert-Lewin had shown, or been on the receiving end of any disappointment over the opportunity, he added: “No, not at all, I just keep reminding him the further away it gets, the closer it gets. It only gets closer. One will go in - it was a good save, I thought. He did everything right, he hit it hard, he hit it low and the keeper made a good save.”

For Dyche, simply having a fully fit Calvert-Lewin is a