Marco Silva says his Everton team “must show a reaction” after last weekend’s defeat at Bournemouth as the Blues target a seventh consecutive home victory on Saturday.

Sheffield United stand in the way of Everton achieving that goal and Silva has called on his side to play with focus and intensity in the clash at Goodison Park (3pm).

After the game against Bournemouth, Silva admitted his team “did not deserve more after the mistakes we made”.

The Portuguese revealed his efforts to address the areas of improvement required on the training pitch this week and said he has been encouraged by the application and desire his players have displayed.

“We have to show a reaction from what was a bad result for us,” he said.

“We’ve analysed the game, given the right feedback on why some things happened in that game and we’ll be fully ready to do our best to win again at Goodison.

“The home form shows we are really strong playing in front of our fans at Goodison and it’s something we want to repeat tomorrow.

“We understand [the frustration of our away form]. If you saw the mood in our dressing room you would see it’s not just our fans, we were [frustrated], too. It’s something we are working on to change.

“It’s not just for us that it’s really hard to play away in the Premier League. We improved our away form last season from the season before, but that’s not good enough and we want to improve again.

“It’s up to us to work and learn from what we didn’t do so well.”

Everton’s formidable home form has seen the Blues score 13 goals and concede just two as they have won six Goodison games on the spin.

Driven on by a vibrant and vocal crowd, Silva’s team have consistently mixed dynamic attacking performances with solid defensive displays.

The manager emphasised the inspirational effect watching Evertonians have on his team – and is anticipating another cacophonous atmosphere at the Grand Old Lady for this weekend's visit of the Blades.

“The 12th man will be there in our home fans,” Silva added.

“We have to put full focus on the game and our opponents.

“Sheffield United have had a good start to the season and have drawn away games at Chelsea and Bournemouth, which means they are in a good moment away from home.

“It’s up to us to do our job, start the game well, try to play fast and with intensity, and aim to score early.”