Recent losses remind Everton of how far they are from the top | OneFootball

Much was made of Everton's form upon David Moyes' return to Merseyside, where after a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa in his first match, the Toffees rattled off nine unbeaten in the Premier League, including three straight wins after that Villa defeat.

Since that run came to an end via a tough 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield, it's been tougher sledding for Moyes' men, as outside of an inspiring 1-0 away victory over Nottingham Forest, they've suffered three losses in five, with the other result coming at Goodison Park with a 1-1 draw with Arsenal.

Granted, those three losses -- the 1-0 to Liverpool, then 2-0 at home to Manchester City, then last week's 1-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge -- have come against the now-champions and two other teams in the thick of the battle for Champions League positions, so maybe expectations were low going into thoe matchups.

And it wasn't as if Everton were completely out of their depth from the jump and were outclassed by all three opponents for 90+ minutes. The Toffees held their own in all three contests and most of the goals they surrendered came late in the matches, with the earliest being Nicolas Jackson's 27th-minute winner last weekend.

Ultimately, the losses indicate how big the gap is between Everton and the league's top teams who are regularly competing for European competitions, something Everton hasn't done since bowing out in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League in 2017/18. They only made it to the qualifying round of the Champions League in 2005/06, losing to Villareal 2-1 in both legs.

We already know there's a lot of work to do this summer, and goal number one should be to build a squad that is comfortably mid-table before worrying about European qualitification.

But if nothing else was learned over this last month or so, it's clear that Everton might be heading in the right direction, but there's plenty to do before they get where they want to be.