And Moyes – who marks his 600th game as a manager today – believes his team are well-placed to score their first victory at Anfield since September 1999.

“What we have at the moment is a lot of players who are beginning to hit top form,” said the Goodison manager. “We are going there as a team with a lot of confidence.

“We played very well against City and Arsenal, been to Chelsea and did the same, so while we will go into it with great respect for them as a team, I feel we can give them a really good game.

“But over the years I think we have given most teams a game. Wherever we go teams are up for it because they know we are going as genuine challengers. There’s no complacency from anyone about playing Everton.”

Moyes is looking to improve on an indifferent derby record having triumphed just three times in 17 meetings with Liverpool since taking over almost eight years ago.

The 2-0 defeat at Goodison in November was his team’s last Premier League defeat and the manager claims it has proven the springboard for their subsequent revival.

“We felt we could have got more out of the first game, no doubt about it,” said Moyes. “They got the goals, but we definitely did much better, and thing did turn around after that for us.

“We left the game with a lot more positives. We weren’t in a great moment beforehand, but the players showed a great desire, there was an uplift in energy and the fans knew we gave it a real good go.

“It’s funny because the season before Aston Villa nicked a win against us and we kicked on from that. This time Liverpool did it, and that made us realise we had to step up from the level we were at. We’d maybe got bedded into a level which wasn’t good enough before that.

“I think the first derby helped free us up a bit. By that I mean that maybe we thought we had been doing okay, but afterwards we worked harder, showed a greater commitment and the players realised ‘okay we lost, but it was better than we had done previously.’”

Meanwhile, Louis Saha has put pen to paper on his two-year contract extension.

“It was an easy decision,” said the striker. “You always think carefully but it didn’t take me long to know I wanted to stay because I have enjoyed my time here and I want to be part of the future of Everton.”