Everton defender Michael Keane says the Toffees will travel to Norwich feeling disappointed not to have beaten champions-in-waiting Liverpool after last night’s 0-0 draw at Goodison Park.

The hosts had the best chance of the game when Reds keeper Alisson made a fine late save to deny a clever back-heel from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, before Joe Gomez got a slight deflection on the follow-up shot from Tom Davies, which cannoned back off the foot of the far post.

It makes local rivals Liverpool wait a little longer for their celebrations and leaves Carlo Ancelotti’s team 11 points clear of the relegation zone with eight games remaining.

Asked if he was happy with the draw, England defender Keane replied: “You’d have thought so, if you’d told us before the game this would be the outcome, but we are disappointed we have not won it.

“I know they had a lot of the ball but our work rate and shape were unreal.

“Considering it was our first game in three months our fitness was first class and we had the best chances. I don’t remember them having a clear-cut chance, we had two good ones.

“It is a decent result but we wanted to win and, after the chances we had, we are a bit disappointed we didn’t.

“We are gutted Tom didn’t score, it might have been a good block from Joe. We wish it had gone in but it didn’t, it happens.

“The main thing was the work rate and fitness we showed was brilliant.”

The Toffees were playing 48 hours after Norwich had slumped to a 3-0 home defeat to Southampton, giving them a quick turnaround ahead of the trip to Norfolk to play the Premier League’s bottom side at 6pm on Wednesday.

“It will take two or three games to get to match fitness and sharpness,” Keane continued, speaking to Everton’s official website. “We wanted to win but we’ll take the draw and look forward to the game on Wednesday night.

“We missed the fans a lot but once you are playing a derby you still have that tenacity about the game.

“You saw tackles flying in, there was still that competitive edge. It might not have been played at the tempo it would be four or five games down the line and with fans here but it was a good game.

“It probably wasn’t the best to watch quality-wise but there was a lot of heart and fight.”