Marco Silva says Everton must summon bucketloads of “commitment, attitude and spirit” against Liverpool on Wednesday, as the Blues manager weighs up his formation options for this season’s first Merseyside derby.

Silva switched to a three-man backline at Leicester City on Sunday and revealed his side spent time practising the system earlier in the campaign.

Everton were leading and in control against the high-flying Foxes before being hit by two late goals.

Silva, then, acknowledged his side’s display in the East Midlands was not without its flaws – but he is urging the Blues to replicate vast swathes of that performance when they clash with Liverpool at Anfield.

“They gave everything, the commitment was there, the attitude was there and the team spirit was there,” Silva told evertontv.

“It is what we have to do again against Liverpool but, in some moments, manage the game in a different way, manage the last minutes in a different way, because we have to learn from the mistakes we made – not just once this season.

“You analyse and work to ensure you do not repeat these types of things but to again do the good things we did – we took many positives from that game.

“It was the first time we played it [5-4-1] this season but not the first time we worked on it.

“Some weeks ago we worked on that system… the players were ready if I decided to use it.

“Last week we prepared in this way. I took some of the decisions because of injuries we had in midfield.

“The injuries created some problems for me to decide the XI and formation – because of that I decided to change the plan.

“The players stuck with it for a big part of the game and we lost what we deserved because of some small details.”

Silva’s weekend gameplan involved a recall for Alex Iwobi after the former Arsenal player impressed from the bench in Everton’s previous two Premier League matches.

The conscientious Iwobi provided ample cover for Djibril Sidibe’s forward raids and injected urgency into his side’s attack.

It was Iwobi’s direct running and pass for Sidibe which sliced open Leicester for Richarlison to head the Blues in front.

The 23-year-old, capped 40 times by Nigeria, joined Everton on the final day of this summer’s transfer window and made his debut at Aston Villa in August.

He has featured in 15 games in all competitions – starting 10 – and scored two goals.

Asked what Iwobi adds to his Everton team, Silva said: “So many things. He is a very, very good player.

“Alex is in the beginning of his process with Everton Football Club.

“He is a player with quality and a lot of creativity and we need these types of players in our frontline.

“He has very good vision for the last pass. He can score goals and I am demanding from him to score more and more.

“Alex is already a really important player for us and I am 100 per cent sure he will be even more important in the future.

“He is a player I really like, not just as a football player but as a person.

“He is a very good person and a very good professional.

“All of the players want to play but it is not important if they play 95 minutes or 30 minutes, they want to have an impact in the game.

“Alex Iwobi is like that and if he is playing it is because he deserves to.”