PHIL NEVILLE admits Everton’s under-fire forward line is being let down by a lack of service from their team-mates.

David Moyes’s side failed to test the opposing goalkeeper for the second successive game as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday.

It was their seventh loss in the last 10 Barclays Premier League matches with the Goodison outfit just five points adrift of the relegation zone in a congested lower half of the table.

Robin van Persie’s 70th-minute winner was his 15th league goal of the season – as many as the entire Everton squad put together.

But Goodison skipper Neville believes the buck should not stop at the strikers and accepts the rest of the team must do more to create opportunities.

“People are saying we need a centre-forward, but we’re actually getting into some great positions and not producing the final pass,” he said.

“The final pass doesn’t come from the strikers, it comes from the wide players, the midfielders, the full-backs, the defenders.

“Maybe we need to start giving our centre-forwards more chances to score.

“They are getting the brunt of the criticism for us not scoring enough goals but maybe as a team we need to provide better service.

“On Saturday we must have got into positions where we could put in 20-25 crosses and we’d hit the first man, didn’t deliver in time or made the wrong decision.

“That’s something that’s been happening all season and we need to improve.

“I always think there is a goal in us. But you’d have to speak to the forwards, really.

“They thrive on goals and that’s how they get their confidence.”

Neville accepts the summer £10million exit of Mikel Arteta, who starred for Arsenal at the weekend, has been a contributory factor.