For the second consecutive game cries of “sack the board” were chanted from the away end. This time it was the Leicester City supporters as a shellshocked fanbase turned its attention to off-the-pitch matters after Everton blew their side away in the opening minutes at Goodison Park.

Following those strikes from Abdoulaye Doucoure and Beto, a game that held significance to the Premier League survival picture already felt beyond the visitors. The way they laboured for the 84 minutes that followed, conceding two more in the process, suggested the nine point lead Everton now hold over them may also be too much for them to overhaul.

With the momentum boost offered by Leicester’s win over Tottenham Hotspur six days earlier quickly waning, Everton temporarily moved above Spurs to spark angst in north London. A fortnight earlier it had been Spurs supporters who had questioned their board from a corner of Goodison as Everton overcame Ange Postecoglou’s side 3-2.

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One of the club’s former players, Jamie O’Hara, could not hide his discontent as Everton ran riot - the pundit taking to social media to write: “It’s actually scary that Everton are above us.” O’Hara went on to claim Spurs are unable to attract suitable players or managers and that “we are in a relegation battle and it’s going to get worse”.

For all the worries that supporters of clubs immediately around Everton in the table are expressing, and all the satisfaction the Blues can take from three consecutive wins, no-one at Finch Farm is getting complacent.

The message from David Moyes after the match was one of caution. Yes, there was happiness and satisfaction taken from the gap that has now opened up to the bottom three but he was clear the priority remained on protecting the club from the sides beneath Everton rather than overhauling those above them.

That might sound unnecessarily tentative but the years between Moyes’ two stints in the Goodison dugout were full of setbacks, some self-inflicted and some unfortunate. Even since his arrival he has suffered the chastening blow of losing two of his first XI to serious injuries. That approach will carry through to the end of the transfer window too, with the Blues eager to strengthen in order to reduce the risk of a thin squad falling apart should more injury misfortune come its way.

There is an acceptance that financial constraints, on top of other factors, may mean the club has to look at what it can get in the final 24 hours of the window, rather than what it necessarily wants.

Such pragmatism is important though and it points to the realism that now holds sway at the club in both the dugout and the boardroom. The grand ambitions of former owner Farhad Moshiri pushed the club to the brink of catastrophe and it took an almighty effort to pull Everton back from the brink.

After years of being the Premier League's crisis club, Everton are not quite out of trouble. But the chants from the away end over recent weeks, combined with improving form on the pitch, have highlighted the immense value of stability and the sense that, for the first time in years, Everton may actually have it.