Sean Dyche makes fresh Everton relegation admission amid Leeds United and Nottingham Forest battle

Sean Dyche was impressed with Everton’s mentality despite suffering a loss to Manchester City.

The Toffees fell to a 3-0 reverse at Goodison Park and were unable to ease their predicament in the Premier League relegation battle.

Everton matched leaders City for much of the first half before Ilkay Gundogan’s 37th-minute opener. Erling Haaland then headed home a second for the visitors just two minutes later before Gundogan sent home a free-kick on 51 minutes.

The Blues stay 17th in the table and just one point and one place above the bottom three with two games to play. And Dyche knows the importance of Everton retaining their top-flight status.

Via the BBC, Dyche said: "It's the same as when I came in - we just need to get it over the line, that's the priority, not Manchester City. Losing our left-back (Vitalii Mykolenko) the day before the game affected the balance of the team but we showed effort. We were trying to get the team to play with confidence and there was an element of that. The mentality stood firm.”