Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany felt luck was against the title favourites at Everton but expects them to recover from their latest blow.
City had their three-point advantage at the top of the Barclays Premier League wiped out as Darron Gibson's deflected strike condemned them to a 1-0 defeat on Tuesday night.
With rivals Manchester United beating Stoke on the same night, City now lead their neighbours only on goal difference at the summit.
The result rounded off a frustrating January for City which began with a defeat at Sunderland on New Year's Day and also saw them go out of both domestic cup competitions.
Kompany, who had been making his return from a four-match suspension, told City TV: "In a season you are going to lose games - unfortunately you have to lose games at some point.
"We didn't want it to happen but we look forward and we still want to go on and bring the league back to Manchester City."