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Leighton Baines has lifted the lid on Everton’s troubles by admitting: 'There’s no chemistry between the players right now'.

The Blues slumped to a third successive Premier League defeat on Sunday, as they lost 1-0 at Manchester United.

In a typically honest assessment of Everton’s plight, Baines says the players have let the Blues fans down and that FA Cup success is the only way to repay their support.

The left-back admits Everton’s season now hinges on their semi-final at Wembley later this month but insists that performances and results in the Premier League games either side do matter.

But Baines says that if the Blues are to drag themselves out of this rut then and take some form into the FA Cup then they players quickly need to rediscover their understanding with each other.

“You are only really secure as individuals when you are winning games but even then we will make changes from time to time with what is required tactically,” Baines told the ECHO.

“I don’t think there is anyone expecting to have their name pencilled in for that game (FA Cup semi-final).”

“But the motivation should be getting your name there,” he added.

“I just don’t feel as though the chemistry is quite there with the team on the pitch at the moment, and it hasn’t been for a while.

“We are maybe leaning too heavily on individuals to come up with something.

“We’re in games, we were in the game on Sunday and had a couple of chances, but we’re not performing as a team to the level we know we can or we should be.

“Results have an impact on that because chemistry and confidence go hand in hand, if you start winning games.

“Look at the teams who are having success this year and you’d say they have chemistry.

“If I had to say one thing, I just don’t know if it’s there with us at the moment, for whatever reason.”

Everton are languishing in 12th in the table, on 38 points, with eight games remaining.

The Blues’ home form has been wretched this season but they have fared much better on the road.

But after a limp display, they fell to a second away defeat in the league of the campaign at Old Trafford on Sunday.

“It’s another game where we have come away without a win and we’re not where we should be,” Baines said.

“We haven’t won enough games to make excuses.

“You get judged at the end of the season, and we’re getting towards the end of the season, and we’re not near a position we should be in given what we’ve got.

“We’re all accountable. We try and put it right but we’ve not been able to. That’s the third loss on the bounce in the league which is disappointing to us all.

“We want to win everytime we go out to play and we’d like to go into that cup game with a few wins behind us.

“That’s our season in some respects now, it certainly is from the fans’ point of view and we’ve let them down a lot, it’s our only way of making it up to them.

“To go on and have success in the Cup now. You had the travelling fans there again on Sunday and they are amazing, they follow us wherever we go and generally they have seen us win a few games this season but unfortunately we weren’t able to give them the result or performance we wanted to."