As the Premier League season comes to its final stages, the run-in could see one of the greatest relegation battles ever unfold - with the bottom eight well and truly in the dogfight of their lives.
For the second season running Everton are in that mix which shows that the last campaign was not an anomaly, when Frank Lampard had to purely rely on the spirit of Goodison Park to save his side from falling down to the Championship when they came from behind to beat Crystal Palace.
It was a remarkable game, but it should not be glorified and Everton will certainly not want to go through something like that again in order to keep themselves alive in the Premier League.
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Lampard was expected to kick on this season with many supporters hoping a full pre-season and transfer window meant he would be able to show his true managerial talent. Yet that was very much not the case as just before the World Cup began Everton had only three wins to their name in the league.
After the back-to-back losses to relegation rivals Bournemouth, one in the League Cup and one in the league, a change was seemingly needed but he was eventually sacked with no wins in six games after the winter break.
Many seem to think Everton made this decision far too late which is not an unreasonable opinion. But when you look at the context of this season right now and the sheer panic of sides around them, the Blues may have an advantage due to when Dyche came in.
The former Burnley man has been in charge since the start of February where he has shown that he can grind out results with this Everton side who have shown grit and willingness to learn his ways to stay clear of the drop zone, something Dyche done with the Clarets for a long time.
He again showed exactly that against Spurs as Everton, even when it seemed the world was against them after a red card and a penalty. The team managed to fight back and scrape a draw in the last minute through a Michael Keane wondergoal.
That is purely an example of why Everton fans can share some optimism amongst themselves as there is already a 'never say die' attitude which has been instilled by Dyche compared to what seems to be a time to panic for other sides around them.
The change of mentality has seen Everton go from one of the teams who seemed like they were favourites to go down to arguably the form side in the bottom eight. Two recent draws have been secured with late goals against members of the so-called ‘Big Six’, showing that there is no longer an inferiority complex.
Dyche has picked up 12 points from nine games so far - including three wins and three draws. Everton are unbeaten in their last four matches.
So, as we come into the run-in there will be a fear among others which has already been proved with Leicester City deciding to part ways with Brendan Rodgers. They are now being linked with what are typically known as firefighter managers to give them a short-term lift.
As well as that, Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper has been under that much pressure from the media that the owners had to publicly back him with a statement which emphasises the difficulties he has been having.
Also, former Everton boss David Moyes has been under the cosh for a significant amount of time due to how much West Ham have fallen away from where they finished last season. That only intensified last night, when the Hammers got obliterated by Newcastle 5-1 at home which led to the majority of fans leaving the ground early.
In addition, Southampton have sacked two managers and hired the unproven Ruben Selles, Leeds United brought in Javi Gracia and Crystal Palace rehired Roy Hodgson all after Everton brought in Dyche.
Everton bit the bullet with Lampard, and even making that decision only in January could be crucial in the bigger picture. Maybe they didn’t do it early enough, but when you look at the teams around them right now, it was still hopefully the right time to have a chance of salvaging their Premier League status.
Now almost every side looking over their shoulders at relegation could do with their very own Dyche - but instead they will be scampering around looking for someone to give them a short-term boost.
Everton have already produced that and now have a stable platform to build on for the rest of the campaign with a manager pushing the players to simply not give up.
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