Tarkowski confident Everton can beat drop without others

Defender James Tarkowski is confident Everton can get the results they need to escape relegation without having to rely on rivals taking points off each other.

A Monday night game meant the players had to watch the team drop back into the bottom three over the weekend but the 1-1 draw at home to Tottenham lifted them to 15th.

It was the second successive match they had come from behind to secure a point, which was a vital one in terms of maintaining the upward curve since manager Sean Dyche replaced Frank Lampard at the end of January.

During that period they have accrued 11 points – 10 of which have come at home – from nine fixtures and, were they to repeat that record in their final nine matches, the Toffees would more than likely be safe with 38 points.

“I can’t not watch the results. I would have to live in a box to do that,” said Tarkowski after game in which Everton played the last half-hour with 10 men following Abdoulaye Doucoure’s sending-off.

“But I don’t put too much focus on it. I try and put a lot of focus on how we perform and the points we are going to pick up.

“If we do our job then there is no worrying about anyone else and we put a good performance in and got a point for it.

“You want to try and win as many games as possible, but I just think if you look at the circumstances of losing Doucs quite early into the second half and then going a goal down, to come back and get a point is massive for us.

“It might be vital come the end of the season. I just think it feels nice when you come back from a goal behind.”

Tottenham, who also had Lucas Moura sent off late on just six minutes after arriving as a substitute, were playing their first match since the departure of Antonio Conte but, despite taking the lead through Harry Kane’s penalty, a lack of confidence saw them retreat into their shell and Tarkowski said the hosts sensed a vulnerability.

Toffees manager Sean Dyche has praised the improving mentality among his squad and that showed as they they were the better side for the final 22 minutes after going behind, and grabbed a point thanks to Michael Keane’s 90th-minute wonder-strike.

“I thought they were there for the taking at the end, to be honest,” Tarkowski said.

“We were the team going for it and I know they got a couple of chances late on, but after we scored I was ready to go again and try and get the winner.

“It was a good night because they are a side that are in a bit of a funny place with the manager going, but I thought we performed really well and before the (Doucoure) sending-off we was the better team.”