ESSENDON coach Matthew Knights concedes his team is caught in a trough after losing three straight games, and has a long road ahead if it is to return to the top eight.

The Bombers' 27-point loss to West Coast on Sunday was their fourth defeat in five matches, and leaves them a full game outside of a finals spot. 

They face the Brisbane Lions next week at the MCG before testing fixtures against St Kilda and Hawthorn in the final three rounds of the season.

Knights said his side hadn't improved since the midway point of the season when it barged its way into the top eight with some exciting and daring football.

"We're in a bit of a trough at the moment, and we've just got to back and work out why it happened – both this week and last week – and endeavour to get better," he said.

"We were confident, we thought we'd play well, but we just didn't answer the call today – we were clearly out-pointed in so many areas."

Rather than his players focusing on what they needed to do to make the finals, Knights said they need to concentrate simply on improvement.

"We've given ourselves an opportunity by having a decent first half of the year, (and) I guess our destiny is still in our own hands if we're good enough," he said.

"(But) this team can't concentrate on [winning] three of the four. We've just got to focus on playing better football – you've actually got to play decent footy to win footy games in this great competition.

"We've got a lot of work to do over the next couple of weeks to get moving again. If we play like we did today, we'll struggle to make it."

For the second straight week, the Bombers were on the back foot from the start, conceding a 20-point first quarter lead to West Coast that they would never reel in.

"We've got an enormous amount of work to be done in that area," Knights said of his side's poor starts.

"Both Richmond last week and West Coast this week clearly out-pointed us in so many areas early in the game.

"You just can't do that against any team in the competition."

Knights said his side, which was well beaten in the contested possession count, lost the midfield battles comprehensively. 

"They ran a lot harder, they were a lot more physical on the inside and then ran a lot harder on the outside," he said.

"I guess they got us on a double-edged sword - they got us both inside and outside.

"It was really disappointing in both of those areas today."

Knights was unsure if captain Matthew Lloyd would be available to face the Lions next week, but said Alwyn Davey was a certainty to return for the season-defining clash after missing the trip to the west with a knee injury.

Jason Winderlich (back) remains in doubt, while Mark McVeigh is "a good chance" to recover form a cork and push for selection.

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