Everton boss Roberto Martinez has insisted that his side cannot afford to end their season on a sour note following their defeat to Aston Villa.
The Toffees saw their six-match unbeaten run come to an end at Villa Park as a brace from Christian Benteke and a strike from Tom Cleverley fired Tim Sherwood's men to victory, despite second-half goals from Romelu Lukaku and Phil Jagielka.
Martinez is adamant that his team have to get back to their best form when they take on Sunderland at Goodison Park on Saturday.
He told reporters: "The ambition is to perform in the manner we did in the second half. A club like ours cannot afford to perform with a lack of intensity that we did in the first half. We have nine points to fight for and we were in the middle of a very good run.
"To get 16 out of 18 points was a really strong return, but now we need to make sure we put this result to bed and focus against Sunderland for what is going to be a really important game.
"The points tally at the end of the season has a real meaning of what we want to achieve for next season."
Everton are 12th in the Premier League with 44 points from their 35 matches.
Simon Sinclair
