Ancelotti on Aston Villa draw

I thought we came out the blocks really slowly. Struggled to get a foot on the ball, but partly of that is Carlo’s tactics from not wanting to have the same start we had a Goodison Park. The first 30 half an hour was slow and we were struggling to string two passes together. 

Tyrone Mings should have scored from close range. After the half hour mark Everton began to get their foot on the ball and keep possession much better. A few half chances along the way. 

But coming out for the second half we were excellent and it was obvious that Carlo had got into them at half time. We were commiting more bodies forward and creating more chances. With 25 minutes to go Jack Grealish came on for Aston Villa as the home side looked for the opener. 

Both sides huffed and puffed with any real quality until the chance of the night arrived to Dominic Calvert-Lewin forcing Emi Martinez into a good save at his near post after a peach of a ball in from Lucas Digne. 

Aston Villa should have been reduced to 10 after Tyrone Mings challenged Calvert-Lewin for the ball but the centre-back timed it horribly wrong and his left leg and through the Everton forward’s leg.“We tried to do everything to win, we had a good second half and pushed a lot of energy there,” said Ancelotti, whose side came to the Midlands four days after winning at West Ham.

“The first half was more in balance; the second, we created a lot of opportunities.

“We had some shots from the penalty box where we were not lucky enough but I am satisfied with the performance.

“I think we did our best and we have three games, we are still in the fight and we must try to win the last three games.

“We had two away games and got four points. We’re still in the battle. We’ve got two home games. To be in Europe, I think we need to get nine points.”

"The performance was good, we were good defensively and didn’t give them a lot of opportunities," continued Ancelotti

"We had some opportunities to score goals, some shots from distance… the performance was good.

"We've had two difficult away games and got four points.

“Of course, we would like six points but we are still in the fight for Europe.

"We were much better in the second half and put more pressure offensively. I think they went a little bit down physically and we had more control of the game.

"We could have been more efficient [in the attacking third].

“Maybe we weren't so fresh with the final decision.

“We didn't win but nothing has changed. We have three games to play – maybe we need three victories but we will try to do it.

"It's a point. We moved up the table and now we have this great opportunity with two games at home where we hope to get six points."