After a slow start to the current campaign, a 1-1 draw with United is regarded as the turning point for David Moyes’s side with the game turning on a firm but fair bone-crunching tackle by Phil Neville on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Since then, Everton have climbed the table to firmly establish themselves in the top six of the Premier League and are well on course for a third consecutive European qualification.

Although Everton let a 3-1 lead slip at Aston Villa last weekend, manager Moyes is delighted with his side’s form in recent weeks and Lescott believes that his team-mates have shown they’re artists as well as artisans and at times can ‘out-football’ most opponents – even Manchester United.

He said: “At times we can outplay most teams but over the 90 minutes it is a different situation. “We are confident that at any given time we can pass our way through any team and then on other occasions we can use our spirit and determination to outpower them.

“We still know that United are a great team and still top of the league and in every competition so it will be a tough game but we are confident in the way we are playing and we can achieve something.”

Lescott believes that Everton’s increased confidence also means they now go into games thinking more about what they can do rather than the opposition but if they’re to prove themselves as a major force in English football he acknowledges that the club – still without silverware since the FA Cup success against United in 1995 – need to start lifting trophies.

He said: “Most teams are confident when things are going well but we are believing more now.

“I think it is important that we do win things. I don’t want to put a time on that but I think ‘potential’ is a harsh word because we are delivering at the minute as well.

“We are not overachieving but we are there or thereabouts every year so we are pleased with what we are doing.”

If Everton are to break their 14-year trophy duck then they must first get past United and potentially their former striker Wayne Rooney who Lescott rates as one of the leading frontmen in the global game.

He said: “I think Wayne Rooney is amazing. He is probably the best at the minute if not the world then definitely in England while Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez are seasoned veterans and internationals and it will not be an easy game whoever they put out.

“We need to concentrate more than you normally would. It is not just me though.

“You have to limit the balls getting to Rooney and try and frustrate him but everybody will have to be on their mettle.

“It will be a tough game whoever they play up front, we are going to have to be fully focused.”