Micah Richards has described the atmosphere at Goodison Park for their relegation showdown with Bournemouth as one of the loudest he's ever experienced.
Blues rallied around Sean Dyche's side on Sunday as they looked to beat the Cherries and secure their Premier League status for another season. This campaign has been far from smooth sailing after Frank Lampard was sacked in January leaving them deep in a relegation dogfight.
The former Burnley boss succeeded the Chelsea icon as he was tasked with steering them out of a second successive relegation battle.
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Leicester City and Leeds United joined Southampton as the sides relegated to the Championship. For Everton it was an all too familiar situation after they needed to beat Crystal Palace last season to stay in the division.
And the former Manchester City and Aston Villa defended noted a theme after Stuart Attwell blew the full-time whistle on Sunday.
"I think last year when they stayed up, it seemed like everyone was together, it was like 'we're all in'," he said speaking on The Monday Night Club. "But I was at the game and I have to say it's the loudest I've ever heard, at any stadium, I've ever been at.
"The support was fantastic but when the fans ran onto the pitch and they was celebrating for a good 10 or 15 minutes but after that they were singing 'sack the board'.
"I don't think there was that last season, there was just pure relief so of course there was relief staying up this time around but there was a sense of 'we're Everton Football Club, we shouldn't be here' and no one has the divine right to stay in the Premier League, we know that, but they need to look forward now.
"I've got to give credit to the players because to play under that pressure, going into the game with the crowd, the expectation, being brave on the ball, not hiding, it wasn't the greatest game - to be honest, it was quite awful.
"But the character showed and they had a gameplan... It took immense courage from the players because that could've been a banana skin."
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