Defender Nathalie Bjorn has urged her teammates to regain the high standards the squad has set this season following a disappointing afternoon on Sunday.

Everton were edged 2-0 by league rivals Aston Villa at Walton Hall Park in an encounter where the Blues struggled to build on the momentum created prior to the break from domestic action.

Bjorn – who captained the side at the weekend – says there is a collective frustration in the camp, particularly with the group's inability to display their quality in possession for prolonged periods.

"We are disappointed," she told evertontv. "We didn't come up to our standards.

"We didn't show what we could do with the ball. Villa were the better team on the day.

"They get an early goal, but we still have time to score a goal. Time to get our standards up and keep the possession, do what we're good at.

"We couldn't keep the ball the way we want to, we don't have the patience that we usually do, and we don't create enough chances."

It had been a month since Everton’s impressive point earned away to Manchester United, a run that brought the Toffees to four league games without defeat.

While Bjorn admitted it can be difficult to reignite momentum within an extended period between fixtures, the 25-year-old wasn’t ready to use that as an excuse.

"When you come back from the international break, it's difficult to get a run going again," she continued.

"Still, we didn't have a game last week, we had two weeks of practice [leading into this game] so we can't use that as an excuse.

"I think we need to get our standards up."

In a season that has provieded plenty of positives for Brian Sorensen’s side so far, the Everton defender believes the team can learn just as much from the negative moments, such as this. 

"We need to learn and grow from this and see how we can perform in our next game,” said Bjorn.

"We're not happy, we're disappointed but now the game is finished and now it's about working harder.

"We need to grow from this. We can't let our heads drop.

"We can be angry now but once we go back to training it's a new week.

"We will do everything we can to finish as high as possible in the table."

Up next for the Blues is a trip to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester City on Sunday 12 March (3pm GMT).

With how tightly contested the bottom of the table is, Bjorn expects another difficult match but one the team can bounce back in. 

"Every game in this league is really tough," she added.

"Leicester have something very important to fight for. They want to stay in this league.

"We cannot underestimate the difficulty of that game, it will be a tough one."