It's always tough to gauge how a fixture postponement so soon before it was due to be played will actually affect a side - and Everton will be no different.
The Blues were due to travel to London to face Arsenal on Sunday at the Emirates Stadium. However, on Friday morning, the Premier League confirmed that all matches this weekend would not be taking place - as a sign of respect following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday afternoon.
Frank Lampard and his squad would have been deep into their preparations for the game when news of the announcement came through and, as of yet, it's unclear how their schedule might look in the coming days - especially with confusion still surrounding the West Ham United match later this month.
READ MORE: Premier League confirm fixture postponements after Queen Elizabeth II death
On the one hand, it gives Everton a chance to rest injured players such as Jordan Pickford and have them fully focus on their recovery ahead of their return. On the other, it rather eliminates the strong amount of momentum that the side looked to have been building with a great performance against Liverpool.
Across the course of the campaign so far, despite injury problems that have threatened to derail the progress of the side, there have been the signs of real progress being made at Goodison Park. The Blues are still waiting for their first Premier League win of the season, but the positive energy is only growing thanks to the nature of their performances.
That especially was the case against Liverpool, who admittedly themselves were somewhat depleted by injury issues but still fielded a very strong team last weekend. Resisting a potential urge to go with a five-at-the-back system, which is still yet to convince many supporters, Lampard instead opted to trust in a 4-3-3 style and essentially match up his opponents from the off.
Jurgen Klopp's side have built a reputation on being a high-pressing unit, although the lack of that nature this term has been rather ruthlessly exposed in recent weeks. Regardless, Everton knew that they couldn't afford mistakes anywhere on the pitch in allowing their opponents to pick up easy possession.
That has been an issue the Blues have faced for a number of years. Often when playing against an energetic team who close down the angles quickly at the top end of the pitch, they have been found lacking and have been forced into costly mistakes.
Playing around that initial press from opponents and being able to transition quickly into an attack of their own could well be an important aspect of Everton's play in the future. If they are to play on the counter-attack in certain games, especially, it's a quality that must be nurtured.
Looking at the figures so far this term and comparing them to last season, it already shows a slight improvement in this regard. Six matches is perhaps not the largest sample size to draw from, especially given that Lampard is continuing to improve his side in this regard, but the structure for improvement in there.
Twitter account "TheOther14", which focuses on interesting statistics from those clubs outside the so-called 'big six', shared findings from the season so far in how well each team are managing to evade pressure from the opposition.
Last term Everton faced 5,260 opposition pressures from all over the pitch, having a 68.2% success rate at evading that pressure and retaining possession. So far this season they have faced 714 pressures, but have managed to raise that success rate to 69.5%.
Having faced Leeds United and Liverpool in their last two matches, two sides with strong reputations of energetic pressing all over the pitch, managing to improve those numbers is still somewhat impressive. And it hints towards something that Lampard has already discussed.
He said after the Liverpool game: “We have brought in players who can receive the ball and play the ball through the midfield and be comfortable on the ball and make the right decisions. As much as you coach and train and talk about the tactics you want to play, you will always be in the hand of players and decisions they make on the pitch.
"I think a lot of the decisions we made today were a sign of us improving, against a really intense high pressing team - and it was the same against Leeds the other day - so we want to keep going in that direction.
"We are far from the finished article, we want to start having more possession, more control of games, and I think you saw the ability to do that, and it was good for the lads to feel that and it encourages them to keep working on that."
Everton unfortunately won't have the opportunity to hone those skills any further at the Emirates Stadium this weekend, but perhaps extra time on the training pitch in this regard won't be a bad thing in the slightest. The manager highlighted the importance of the midfield and recruitment, and this will give the chance for Idrissa Gueye and James Garner particularly to integrate themselves with their new team-mates following their deadline day arrivals.
James Tarkowski and Conor Coady have already improved the ball-playing ability from the back, and with increased mobility in front of them, hopefully that opens up more channels for Everton to evade the press of opponents. In turn, the Blues have been using their own energy to close sides down and force them into mistakes.
It might only be a slight improvement for now, but it's a strong basis that Lampard can build more from.
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