Nathalie Bjorn praised her teammates for raising their game as the Blues earned an impressive 2-1 victory at Aston Villa on Sunday.

It was an Everton performance full of fight, belief and resilience at Villa Park, with Sweden international Bjorn scoring the decisive goal from the penalty spot on 74 minutes after an own goal to give the Toffees the lead had been quickly cancelled out by Rachel Daly's effort for the hosts.

Speaking to evertontv afterwards, Bjorn applauded the relentless work of the squad and staff following the side's second win of the Women's Super League campaign.

“It was a real team performance,” she said.

“We knew this game against Villa was going to be a tough one, games against them always are. It’s going to be fight, fight, fight.

“It doesn’t look pretty, but it was a real team effort from everyone. From those who played, those who didn’t. From staff to players. It’s such an important win and I’m happy to score as well.

“We’ve been struggling with injuries this season with this squad.

“We’ve been unlucky in the games that we played well and the result hasn’t been fair on us, but on Sunday many players stood up.

“They’ve done that in other games, but against Villa we stepped up one level more and that’s what you’ve got to do when you have a lot of injuries. You’ve got to play to the best of your ability as you wait for others to come back.”

Bjorn made her comeback from injury earlier this month with a nine-minute cameo off the bench in the 2-2 home draw with Bristol City at Walton Hall Park.

She was introduced for the second half in the West Midlands at the weekend, with her experience proving vital to securing an important three points.

“It was amazing to be back playing again. I’ve been missing it,” Bjorn continued.

“To get 45 minutes – especially against a team like Aston Villa – to go in and show what we’re capable of and play for Everton.

“On Sunday, we felt like we needed to fight, to step up and to be better than we have been.

“We’ve been playing well, but you need to score goals and that’s what we did. We kept their chances very low and that’s incredibly important.

“We know we can do much more in this league and I hope these three points can help us turn things around.”

Bjorn became Everton's third different penalty taker this season, with Justine Vanhaevermaet and Aurora Galli stepping up earlier in the campaign.

The Swede revealed the squad had been practicing spot-kicks in training over the weekend and was grateful manager Brian Sorensen's faith to give her the nod at Villa Park.

“I felt good!" she said. "We practiced [penalties] the day before the game. We have quite a few penalty takers [in the squad] and today Brian said to me that if we get a penalty, I was to take it. I’m happy he gave me that one.”

Everton currently sit a point behind their tally at the same stage as last season and, with two league games left before the winter break, Bjorn says there is motivation in camp to ensure they better last year's record heading into Christmas.

“It’s the international break now, but when we come back we have West Ham,” she added.

“They’re a really tough opponent, but we need to take those points.

“It feels amazing for our confidence to get these three points, get the group together, go into the break with a win and when we come back we work even harder.

“We want to get as many points as we can [before the winter break] and we want to be better than we were last season, so we need to start grabbing those points.”