And given the nature of their recent performance the Everton goalkeeper believes tired limbs will be the last thing on his team-mates’ mind as they itch to keep their good run going against Neil Warnock’s side.

Howard said: “It’s a positive – if you win you can stay on a good winning streak, and if you lose there’s another game right there for you to prove yourself.

“I always think the more you play the less you have to train. Playing games keeps you ticking over and I feel when there’s points to be had, it’s easy to bounce back.

“These two results help. Against Leicester, Arsenal and Chelsea we played well but we were just a little bit frail in certain areas.

“We also knew if we could beat West Brom then double up and beat Palace we’d be right back in the thick of things so hopefully that will be the case.”

Martinez is a big fan of Howard and admitted his disappointment that the American keeper was denied a deserved clean sheet on Thursday due to the visitors’ last minute consolation strike.

And while the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Samuel Eto’o will continue hitting the headlines up front, Martinez cannot stress enough how Howard’s presence breeds confidence in the other players.

“Tim got a lot of credit in the World Cup for his performance against Belgium, but for Evertonians it was just declaring the obvious,” said Martinez.

“They have always seen Tim at that level and I have seen it for 13 months now. He is always focused and has a real concentration, and he is enjoying a very good moment of form.”

Martinez could hand Eto’o his full home debut against Palace after the Cameroon veteran once again made an impact off the bench against Wolfsburg, setting up Kevin Mirallas’ late strike.

The Everton boss has one concern with full-back Seamus Coleman facing a late fitness test after sustaining a knock on the head in the midweek clash.