RECORD signing Marouane Fellaini believes the sense of togetherness in Everton’s squad will help the team to bounce back from Sunday’s last-gasp defeat to Aston Villa.

Despite trailing twice to a Steve Sidwell goal after just 35 seconds and an Ashley Young strike following a rare error by Phil Jagielka, Everton fought back to draw level in the third minute of added on time through Joleon Lescott’s second of the afternoon only for Young to net again with a mere 12 seconds remaining.

Defeat in such heart-breaking circumstances coupled with Everton’s current injuries crisis could be seen as quite demoralising.

Their only available striker Victor Anichebe left the field early with a back problem in the Villa defeat following a week which had seen Ayegbeni Yakubu ruled out for the rest of the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon, Louis Saha suffer a reoccurrence of a hamstring problem and James Vaughan return home from the USA without being operated on after renowned surgeon Richard Steadman broke his arm in a skiing accident.

However, Fellaini, a £15million acquisition from Belgian champions Standard Liege on transfer deadline day, believes that his Everton team-mates remain united in such adversity.

The 21-year-old has settled in quickly since arriving at Goodison Park, despite hardly speaking any English when he signed and like his grasp of the new tongue, his performances on the pitch have improved notably which he puts it down to the support he has received from his team-mates.

Fellaini said: “For me, my own performance is not as important as the performance of the team.