Cleverley claims Toffees frustrated by international break

The upcoming international break could not have come at a worse time for Everton – that’s according to midfielder Tom Cleverley.

The Toffees have had a solid start to the Premier League season but suffered a heavy 5-0 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday.

Eden Hazard notched a double as Marcos Alonso, Diego Costa and Pedro also found the net to temporarily move the Blues top of the table.

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Everton will now have a fortnight to stew on the loss before seeking redemption against Swansea after the international period – a fact Cleverley admits is frustrating.

“In every aspect of the game, they were better than us,” Cleverley said. “We fully accept that we were beaten by the better team on the day.

“We have got to look at ourselves and have two weeks to sort it out, which is a shame because you like to put these things right quickly, rather than dwell on them.

“We are massively disappointed and we have got to give something back to our fans when we play Swansea after the international break.

“We don’t have many players who stay at home in these breaks so it’s not easy, but we’ve got to try to put this to the back of our minds and work hard.

“After the last season, we owe it to our fans to make Goodison Park a bit of a fortress. Hopefully that run can continue but we will have to put this defeat to the back of our minds as quickly as possible because it wasn’t good enough.”