“Should you expect it? When we’ve been playing consistently like we have over the last two months then I think there’s a good chance we can get those results.

“We didn’t give you anything to base that on earlier in the season.”

Victory over the champions was the perfect fillip for Everton ahead of their Europa League game in Lisbon on Thursday against Sporting. David Moyes’s men defend a 2-1 first leg lead against the Portuguese side as they bid to reach the last 16 of the competition against either Atletico Madrid or Galatasaray.

The Goodison outfit have qualified for continental competition in each of Howard’s first three seasons at the club and the 30-year-old does not want to miss out next term even though his side are having to make up for lost time due to their sluggish start to the current campaign.

He said: “We have some good momentum now.

“It’s kind of hard because we’d given ourselves a mountain to climb but if we can continue to keep picking up points – and this is what you’d consider to be our toughest stretch of the season – and we’ve really done well for ourselves then that’s a huge positive going forward.

“European football has been so good to us over the past three years. It’s something that really gives us a boost every season.

“Not only do we have to do well in the Europa League, we have to try and get ourselves in a position to secure European football again through the Premier League.”