The Everton manager would make no such claim, however, and knows his team must take a point from their Goodison Park clash with Newcastle to ensure a ticket into the UEFA Cup and their third European qualification in four seasons.

One of those was three seasons ago when Everton and Moyes did break the top four monopoly.

Moyes said: “I feel Kevin said what he did this week to dampen down expectation at Newcastle. A lot of what he said is spot on.

“But I will never accept that it cannot be done again, because we have done it.”

Keegan pointed his Newcastle bosses in the direction of Moyes’ achievements with the Toffees to show how to mix it with Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Moyes said: “We came very close (to the top four) this season before falling away. I need to find out how I can keep our challenge going a bit longer – it is probably needing a few more players and better quality.

“I need to make sure we get that. We have the foundations, we have built a good model without spending fortunes.

“There are a lot of clubs who would like to be in the situation we are in. But I want to be in the position that the four teams above us are in.

“We know we can make it, we can do it. We must now make sure we finish fifth, we want to be back in Europe because that is key to our progress.”

Whatever happens, however, Moyes has few reasons to grumble about the current campaign.

He added: “Considering the money that was spent by some clubs last summer, I am more than satisfied with where we are at the moment.

“We aim to be fifth because that means one better than we were last season.

“We may have expected the likes of Newcastle and Spurs to be where we are, but it is not always about spending money.

“It does not guarantee you are higher position, you need a good team and spirit plus a good balance of players.”

Moyes’ side have been praised not only by Keegan this week but also Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, who claims the Merseysiders are “upwardly mobile”.

Moyes said: “It is nice to hear people like Kevin and Arsene saying nice things about us.

“It’s an exciting league because on the last day there are teams still fighting for the title and others still fighting to avoid relegation, while others are battling to get into Europe.

“That is why it an exciting league, it is why players want to come and play in England and it is why fans want to watch the games.”

Moyes believes Everton will cap their best Premier League season with European qualification on Sunday.

He said: “I have faith in my players, they have been great all season, so why should I not believe they can finish the job now and take fifth place?

“We know there are plenty of clubs who have tried to get to our position and not managed it. My players deserve credit for what they have done.

“Finishing fifth is important, players will look at that and want to come here.

“Now it will give me great pleasure to finish fifth. It would give me pleasure to finish top but let’s be a little realistic.

“That is difficult, but fifth will be a great achievement for Everton.”

Moyes admits that his ambitions extend well beyond a regular place in Europe’s second-tier competition.

He added: “It is terrific that we qualified for the Champions League three years ago. That is why I have said that if we could have done it again, we may have changed Everton for ever.

“We could have moved the goal posts about what is seen as the top four. We pulled up short at the end.

“I am not going to give up trying to break in, that is not in my nature. It is a compliment that Kevin praised us for doing it once, but we now aim to do it again.

“Everton is striving hard to move itself back to the really good old days. We give people belief it can be done. We have brought in players who have grown and they have an environment that allows that.

“They are at a great club, well supported, and they know what it means.

“I won’t say that we can do it next season. We must finish fifth first, but I will always be striving to achieve the top four because anything else would be defeatist and I am not like that.

“There has to be realism about it, it is difficult because our spending power is miles away from the top four.”