Everton manager Marco Silva has called on his players to prove they have the character to break a five-match winless run.

The dismal 6-2 defeat by Tottenham on Sunday made it just half a dozen points from a possible 21, although four of those matches were against members of the 'big six'.

Now the fixture list offers them a respite with eight games against teams currently no higher than seventh and Silva is looking for a response.

"Of course, it is not what we want. It is a bad run," said the Portuguese ahead of the trip to Burnley.

"It is clear for me we have to face it with work, with quality, with character, and personality as well to change the results.

"It will be a very tough match, it is always a tough match to play there against Burnley and we have to be strong as a team to achieve a good result.

"We have to show personality, we have to show character during the match.

"You have to be strong against all (teams). Our bad run wasn't just against top six, we had some games at home when you have the chance to get more points for us.

"The last games weren't what we did (previously), where for some reasons we didn't achieve.

"The next game will be a good option for us to do different for ourselves and for our fans as well."