Marco Silva's men are currently 10th in the table, two points behind seventh-placed Wolves and one behind eighth-placed Leicester, who they host on New Year's Day.

Toffees and England goalkeeper Pickford was quoted on evertonfc.com as saying: "I think we are playing well, we're gelling well, we just need to start getting that consistency.

"If you can't win, don't lose the game but Brighton scored and we couldn't break them down.

"Leicester are a tough side. We won at their place (2-1 in October) so they will be trying to get a bit of revenge but we've just got to bring our A-game, recover well and hopefully get three points.

"We've shown glimpses of our ability going forward and, apart from the Tottenham game, defensively we've been solid."

Jurgen Locadia was initially flagged offside when he put the ball in the net at the Amex Stadium just before the hour mark, but the decision was overturned by referee Andrew Madley, with replays showing Pascal Gross' corner had bounced into the striker's path off Everton's Andre Gomes.

The visitors had been the more threatening of the two sides in the first half and hit the woodwork twice after going behind.

Pickford, who acrobatically turned over a header from Gross just prior to Locadia scoring, said of the goal: "It's unfortunate.

"The gaffer works really hard with us in training to get us up quick (from corners) and if that hits a Brighton player then it's offside. It's just unfortunate that it's hit Andre but we created enough chances to go and score at the other end.

"As a unit, I thought we defended very well and we created a lot of chances.

"(My save) was a good save. It was point-blank and it was just a good reaction. I work hard on that in training and making those saves is nice but it doesn't mean as much if you let a goal in and it wasn't to be."

The contest saw Silva start with three men in central defence for the second successive game, then substitute one of them, Yerry Mina, for playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson in the 65th minute.

Pickford added: "The gaffer decides if we play three at the back, four at the back but the good thing is we've got a lot of variety to change formation.

"We played three at the back at Burnley and won 5-1. On Saturday it wasn't going our way for part of the game so we went to four at the back and it's good to have that variety and a lot of depth in the squad."

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