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Muhamed Besic believes Everton FC have rediscovered their team spirit after stopping the rot with back-to-back draws.

The Blues had been on a torrid four match losing streak but after forcing West Ham into an FA Cup replay they came from behind to win a point against Manchester City on Saturday.

Besic has played a pivotal role in Everton’s upturn in fortunes and the £4m summer signing was at his combative best against the reigning Premier League champions.

Influential midfielder James McCarthy has been dogged by hamstring problems of late but Besic has ensured the Blues have not lacked any steel or grit this week.

And after manager Roberto Martinez admitted confidence had taken a hit following the New Year’s Day defeat to Hull City the 22-year-old now says spirits are on the up again.

But fan favourite Besic says Everton could not have arrested their woeful form without the backing of the supporters and was thrilled the Goodison Park faithful applauded the players after the 1-1 draw with City.

“It was very important for us to have the crowd behind us,” Besic told the ECHO. “It is difficult when you are not winning games but sometimes we know that we have been unlucky so maybe now we will win the next four games.

“We only have to keep playing the style of football the manager wants.

“We deserved the point because in our last few games we have been unlucky.

“Manchester City scored but five minutes later we scored. We deserved that today.”

He added: “The spirit is back in the team. You could see that against West Ham on Tuesday that there is a big difference now.

“We are fighting for every ball and normally we would say we are disappointed to have not won the game but a 1-1 against Manchester City, I think is a good result.

“But we want to become a top team ourselves so the aim always has to be to beat every top team.”

And Besic says there is no reason why Everton can’t use the platform of two draws to embark on a winning run to make up for their December slump.

“We are looking forward to all matches now because we have to win back the points we lost in the earlier games,” he said.

“We also have the Europa League, the FA Cup and we can still go up in the league so I see no problems.”

Besic was the victim of a harsh decision from referee Martin Atkinson when a challenge on City playmaker David Silva, late in the game, won the visitors a free-kick.

The Everton midfielder vented his frustration at the decision by punching the turf but after the game he was in no mood to criticise the official.

“This is normal,” he said. “He does his job, I do mine.”