If this does come down to goal difference then Everton cannot really have many complaints.
As laid bare again this evening, the Blues know where they are strong and they know where they are lacking.
They know what has kept them in the fight for European qualification with three games to go but they also know what may yet be their undoing.
And so if it comes down to it, nobody will be able to say they didn't see the goal difference issue coming.
Everton, especially on the road, are good at keeping the ball out of the back of the net – they have now equalled the club record of nine Premier League away shut-outs in one season from 2008-09 - but, alas, they are less adept at putting it in.
The Blues have failed to score in eight league games this season. Hardly a criminal statistic but when you consider the games in which the team have failed to register, then it will only compound the frustration if they miss out on Europe.
It's not over of course, but they cannot afford another 0-0 like this.
And where the television cameras may have focused their glare on Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez after this, the real story was not his two saves of note, but the stony look on the faces of the Everton players who were left to rue a missed opportunity.
This point is not fatal, the Blues are still very much in the scrap for Europe, it's just that matters are far harder than they would have been with a win.
A win Everton deserved? That might be stretching it. But a win Everton should really have found on the balance of play? Yes, probably.
Instead, they had to settle for a point which draws them level with Tottenham in the all-important seventh position above them, but with a significantly inferior number in the goal difference column.
To expect a 16-goal swing is, probably, asking for too much and Spurs know all they have to do now is match Everton's results to, at least, ensure seventh and a spot in the Europa Conference League.
Everton, quite simply, have to exceed Spurs' output over the course of the next three games.
West Ham, in fifth and two points ahead, can still be caught too, as can Liverpool, one point ahead, prior to their game with Manchester United.
Both of those sides also have a superior goal difference to Everton. West Ham's is more catchable but they still have a six goal advantage in that regard.
After this Carlo Ancelotti said his side may need to win all three games, including a final day trip to Manchester City.
Sure, chances against Villa were hardly plentiful but the Blues had a couple of really good ones that needed taking at this, the business end of the season.
Having already kept out a Ben Godfrey volley earlier in the second-half, Martinez would ensure he took home the plaudits from a dour game, by denying Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the dying stages, pushing his header around the post.
It was Everton's clearest chance of the game. Andre Gomes had spurned a good one too, firing over the bar when well set on the edge of the area.
The Blues registered five shots on target at Villa Park but only two really tested Martinez and the hope is that the sight of Calvert-Lewin needing to take on board an energy gel, with 20 minutes to go, isn't an ominous sign of Everton's season running out of gas at just the wrong time.
But the onus, and pressure, placed on the shoulders of Calvert-Lewin has always had the potential to tell, if that is what is to happen.
Richarlison, who worked tirelessly here, has not been able to reach his goal-scoring standards of the past two seasons, James Rodriguez's absence on nights like this tells, and Gylfi Sigurdsson, who has enjoyed key moments this term, was uninspired tonight.
Josh King remained an unused substitute.
Goals from elsewhere are not as plentiful as they should be and it's why a winger, especially, is being targeted for next season.
But that's for the summer and what remains in Everton's hands this term are the final three matches – Sheffield United and Wolves at home and then that trip to the champions on the final day.
The Blues just have to win, the first two at least, in order to take the chase to the final day of the season. Spurs need to drop points. West Ham and Liverpool too, ideally.
It's not over. Everton are still in the fight.
But they have to avoid a repeat of this.
