BRAZILIAN striker Jo believes Everton are still capable of a third straight top five finish despite their current woes.

The Goodison Park outfit go into Sunday’s derby with just one win from their last 10 games.

Injury-hit Everton’s alarming slump leaves them languishing in 14th place in the Premier League table and closer to the relegation zone than a European place.

However, Jo, whose prolific goalscoring in the second half of last season, helped Everton pip Aston Villa for a top five slot, insists his team-mates are still capable of a repeat performance this term.

He said: “We’ve obviously not started this season as well and results haven’t been too good of late but we have the same qualities we had last season and we’ve still got enough about us to finish fifth again.”

Two second half goals at the KC Stadium on Wednesday weren’t enough for Everton to complete a comeback against Hull who had raced into a 3-0 lead within the first half an hour and Jo admits that there must now be a response from the side against their city rivals.

He said: “We’ve got to react – absolutely. We’ve got to go into the derby with our heads in the right place.

“We’ve really got to respond after the defeat to Hull and we know it’s a massive game.”

The loss was a major turnaround from Everton’s last visit to East Yorkshire when they cantered to a 4-0 success against Phil Brown’s side in the Carling Cup, complete with Jo’s last goal in a royal blue jersey to date.

The Brazilian said: “That’s football. These things happen in the game. It’s almost unexplainable.

“We went there a few weeks ago and battered them 4-0 and then there was a 3-2 reverse this week. It’s hard to put your finger on it.”

With Louis Saha already in double figures for the campaign and Ayegbeni Yakubu back from injury, the forward line is one of the few areas of the side that Moyes has options in.

Subsequently, Jo has struggled to get a regular striking berth in recent weeks but he welcomes the battle for places.