Everton manager Marco Silva was left to rue his side's missed chances as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon, which saw Pep Guardiola's side return to the top of the Premier League.
The Toffees had numerous opportunities throughout the game to make life difficult for City, but were simply unable to take them. Gabriel Jesus slotted home after just 22 minutes to give the hosts the lead, before his header shortly after the restart doubled their advantage and put them in cruise control.
Everton did look to be back in the game with around 25 minutes left to play as Dominic Calvert-Lewin diverted Lucas Digne's cross into the bottom corner. But it wasn't to be as City restored their two-goal advantage just minutes later through substitute Raheem Sterling.
Richarlison misses huge chance
The biggest moment of the game arguably came around 10 minutes in. Richarlison had a glorious opportunity to put the Toffees ahead but could only blaze Digne's cross over the bar from close range, when it looked certain he would find the back of the net. This set the tone for the rest of the match in which Everton missed numerous presentable opportunities.
This was one of the reasons why Silva felt City deserved the three points. He said: "I can tell you that City deserved the three points. We were well in the match in the moment that they scored the first goal.
He added: "The biggest chance up to that moment was the chance for Richarlison. We should have been more effective. We knew before the match that they had the quality to have more of the ball. We had to remain strong and be almost perfect in our defensive position. After the first mistake, we started to lose a bit of confidence."
Toffees showed character to keep going
Silva can undoubtedly take a lot of positives from his side's character to keep going, as many teams would cave in when they find themselves two goals down to Guardiola's side. The Toffees created more opportunities in the second-half, and had they taken them, it could have proved to be a very difficult afternoon for the hosts.
Silva believes they had enough chances to have got a result. He said: "In the second-half we started to take more risks to try and fight back and get a result. We knew they were going to be strong on the sides with (Leroy) Sané and (Riyad) Mahrez.
He added: "We showed character and personality as a team to get it back to 2-1. We had three clear chances in the second-half. Richarlison, Theo Walcott, and Dominic (Calvert-Lewin) again all had chances. We could have scored more goals to get a different result."
Silva will be hoping that his side can bounce back from this defeat with a win against high-flying Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park next Sunday afternoon.