Everton manager Frank Lampard could only rue more missed chances and another injury to striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin after defeat to Leicester.
The 2-0 defeat was their fourth in six matches, during which time they have scored just four goals with three of those coming in one game against Crystal Palace.
Calvert-Lewin scored on that occasion last month and the hope was that, after missing the first eight matches of the season with a knee injury, he would kick on and fire the Toffees up the table.
However, he missed a relatively straightforward one-on-one with Foxes goalkeeper Danny Ward early in the second half with the score at 1-0 following Youri Tielemans’s brilliant volley and departed to a hamstring injury on the hour.
A scan on Monday will determine the extent of the problem but it seems likely to have ended his chances of a late call into England’s World Cup squad, which is set to be named on Thursday.
Midfielder Alex Iwobi also spurned a first-half chance and another loss has left Everton looking over their shoulder again, having come close to relegation last season.
“They were good opposition but we missed some big chances, possibly, two of the better chances of the game, in critical moments early in the game and then early in the second half,” said Lampard.
“We competed in a lot of ways but in the end we came up against a good team with good individuals in good form who showed their quality at the top end of the pitch, and we couldn’t find that.”
Everton forced eight corners and attempted 12 shots during the game but managed just two on target and that is a big part of their problem.
Leading scorer this season is Anthony Gordon with three goals, fellow winger Dwight McNeil has two but no-one else has managed more than one.
By contrast, Leicester scored two goals from their eight shots on target after Harvey Barnes converted a counter-attack late on for his fifth of the season, one behind the team’s current leading scorer James Maddison.
“One team took their chances and, unfortunately, we didn’t,” midfielder Iwobi told evertontv.
“I felt like it was a game that could have gone either way.”
