EVERTON’S back-to-back Premier League victories over the division’s top two sides are due to an improving self belief says goalkeeper Tim Howard.

The USA international helped his side to fight back from a goal down – like they had done against Chelsea – to overcome his former club Manchester United in convincing fashion on Saturday and secure a 3-1 win.

He said: “We’ve been playing really confidently. Part of that has been the home form.

“I think the manager brought a few new players in and it took a while to get the trust level down and find a consistent team with the injuries.

“We just weren’t able to settle but I think for the last two-and-a-half months we’ve found a rhythm and picked up points.

“It’s a belief thing. At the start of the season when games were close we were crapping ourselves thinking there’s every chance we could lose this game whereas now we get a few late goals, you hold on to games late, and all of a sudden over the course of a couple of weeks you think ‘we can win’.”

Much has been made about Everton’s record under Moyes against the Premier League’s ‘big four’ clubs.

Despite breaking into the Champions League berths in 2005 and being ‘best of the rest’ for the past two seasons with consecutive fifth place finishes, the Goodison outfit have often been found lacking against the division’s elite sides. However, Howard believes that his team-mates are now a match for anyone when they’re on song.

He said: “We felt that we got stronger as the game went on. We thought they were going to create problems because they’re so good but we dealt with everything they threw at us and we felt really strong.

“The way this season has gone we’ve deceived a few people.

“When we’re strong and on our game I think we can compete with the top four clubs.

“It’s hard because not many teams beat the top four clubs to get a foothold there but overall this season I think we’ve done pretty well.