Silva has Everton seven points and seven places better off than this time last season

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Last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Chelsea underlines the progress Everton have made under Marco Silva.

The Portuguese has turned the Toffees into a high-pressing, organised, resilient side in a short space of time after inheriting a squad that was lacking in identity under Sam Allardyce.

A look back at the position Everton were in after 12 games of last season further underlines the progress the club has made under the former Watford manager.

As David Unsworth wrestled with the mess left after Ronald Koeman’s botched transfer business created a squad devoid of pace, Everton were seven points and seven places worse off than they are now.

The fact that Everton were in that mess as recently as a year ago, and then Allardyce came in and deepened it with an unnecessarily unambitious style of football which laid absolutely no foundations on which Silva could build.

Silva is an expert at engineering instant improvement out of teams and he’s done exactly that at Goodison Park so far.

His next task is to sustain it for a full season, something he has been unable to do during his time in England so far. But he is certainly on the right track; a lot has changed in a year at Everton.