Jake O’Brien believes Everton have set down a marker against the Premier League’s elite teams.
Saturday’s defeat to Manchester City saw David Moyes’ side lose a six-game unbeaten home run as James Tarkowski suffered a potential season-ending injury.
Since the Scot’s return to the hot seat, the Blues have taken points off Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United from the league’s established top six.
And despite losing to the champions, O’Brien feels that going toe-to-toe with the top top flight’s big hitters next season is an achievable aim for the Goodison Park outfit.
He said: “They (City) are a top team.
“I think we have got to look at ourselves and know that we can compete with these teams, especially going into next season.
“I think we have got to go into every game knowing we can get points. We have got to put ourselves up with the top teams.
“No matter who we are playing, we can come and take points. Today we showed that we can compete with the best teams.
“But we need to do it for 90 minutes; we need to be more consistent.”
O’Brien could be set for a positional switch in next week’s trip to Chelsea as a result of Tarkowski’s suspected hamstring injury picked up early into the second half.
“He’s a big part of our team,” admitted the defender.
“I wish him well, but I think we need to bounce back as a team. We need to dig deep in the next few games and come away with something.
“He’s a big part of the team and how we play.
“I think when he went off, it was just moments in the game where we needed to dig in and defend better and we didn’t do it.”