David Moyes believes confidence is crucial to maintaining Everton’s form and insisted: “I want to keep winning.” The Blues boss said he was torn over whether to offer chances to fringe players or play a full strength team against Bournemouth in the FA Cup on Saturday.

But having seen the morale bred by three consecutive Premier League wins he has concluded the best way to enter the Merseyside derby next week is on the back of another positive result.

Moyes, dealing with an injury crisis that means he has limited options when it comes to overhauling the starting line-up, said whether or not to disrupt a winning team has been a topic of conversation at Finch Farm this week.

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Speaking ahead of the fourth round visit of Bournemouth, he said: “We’ve been discussing that a lot. Do we try to keep the momentum going or try to bring in some players who maybe haven’t had the games yet?

“Me and the staff have been discussing that a lot this week. But we’ve not played as many games as a lot of the other sides and we’ve got three games in a week coming up. In my recent history I had three games every week for almost two years so I don’t think we should be feeling over-pressured by that, not at all.

“A wee bit of me is mixed. Do we have to freshen it up with a couple or try to keep momentum? I want to keep winning, that’s all I would say. Winning is not a tap you and switch on and off. You’ve got to try and build on what you’ve got.”

Everton continued their impressive form with an emphatic win over Leicester City on Saturday. The triumph moved the Blues nine points clear of their relegation rivals and the bottom three.

For Moyes, that gap is not yet a source of comfort. Asked whether the win had changed his approach to the final days of the transfer market, in which he had hoped to sign a striker alongside attacking midfielder Carlos Alcaraz, he said: “The truth is, not for me, because I felt if anything I don’t want it to make us go soft in any way.

"Undoubtedly it was a great win to get the points but we have got a lot of these teams to play, whether it be Wolves or Ipswich, a result against us could change it and we have got a huge level of games coming up.

“I think a lot of people think we have probably got ourselves in a really strong position. I am keeping it the other way. I am saying we have got a lot of work to do. But… it has been three brilliant results for us and if you had given us beating Tottenham and beating Brighton and then beating Leicester in a game that was close by league position, we would have been all over it.”