Stones: Everton 'unlucky' in United defeat

Anthony Martial's goal gave United victory but the England centre-back believes his side did not get the reward their performance deserved.

Everton defender John Stones said his team played well despite the defeat.

John Stones feels Everton suffered from bad luck in its 1-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester United.

Anthony Martial's goal gave United victory but the England centre-back believes his side did not get the reward their performance deserved.

Everton are 12th in the Premier League after losing a fourth match in its last five league fixtures and Stones says it need its luck to turn.

"There were a lot of unlucky things that happened to us," Stones told evertontv.

"The goal was one of them. Before that, I didn't think they had a spell in the game where they looked like they were going to score. We hit the bar and had chances to win the game but the things that are going wrong are costing us."

Stones added that Everton can "take some positives" despite its run of eight unbeaten Premier League matches away from home coming to an end.

"You've got to take some positives. Defensively, I thought we looked strong, except for the goal which crept in at the back post," he added.

"Going forward, we should be confident that we can bring this [defensive] performance to the table week in week out, then go out to express ourselves and score goals.

"Some things you can't put right, like luck, but the things we can control we need to work on in training.

"We have got the players and have got the work-rate. We've showed it this season that we can do it, so we need to look in the right direction."