Michael Keane says a revitalised Everton are viewing the crammed Christmas calendar as an opportunity to rocket up the Premier League table.

England international Keane partnered Mason Holgate in the middle of defence as Everton beat Chelsea last week to achieve a four-place leap.

The 26-year-old returns to his former Old Trafford stomping ground on Sunday when Everton tackle Manchester United and insists he is “over” his boyhood affinity for the 20-times English champions.

Caretaker manager Duncan Ferguson – who “galvanised” the Blues for their Chelsea clash, according to Keane – remains in charge against United.

The Blues battle Leicester City for a Carabao Cup semi-final spot next Wednesday before embarking on a run of four league fixtures in 11 days.

“The table is really tight this season, more so than normal, and a few wins in a row can catapult you right up that league,” said Keane.

“We’re still thinking we can get into the top half and the top six isn’t out of the picture at the minute.

“It is really tight and anything can happen. But all we can do is focus on one game at a time and they obviously come thick and fast over Christmas but the sooner we start winning consistently, the better.

"Big Dunc came in and sort of galvanised us. He got us up for the game [against Chelsea] and we knew the fans would get right behind us, especially with Dunc being in charge. We were after a reaction and that’s what we got.

“What a day it was for him and all the fans – it was something they deserved.”

 Keane joined Everton in summer 2017 and has made 77 Premier League appearances for the Club.

Of the other 10 players who started on the defender’s top-flight debut for the Club, only goalkeeper and fellow league debutant Jordan Pickford and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are in line to start this weekend.

Keane is convinced the talent brought to Goodison Park in the intervening period adds up to a squad with “massive” potential.

The player acknowledges, however, that to fulfil their promise Everton need to eradicate the lapses which have proved their undoing in matches this season.

“The potential in the squad is massive,” said Keane.

“I see what everyone is like in training every day. The talent is there… no doubt about that.

“We’ve shown that to the fans at certain times, especially at the end of last season when we were brilliant for the last three or four months.

“It’s just something we need to get back to, we gained a bit of confidence from last weekend, but we know we’ve got a talented squad.

“Teams weren’t necessarily cutting us open  [before Chelsea], they were actually finding it hard to break us down. But we just conceded sloppy goals from set-pieces or individual mistakes and we weren’t scoring enough goals. When you put those two together it doesn’t put you in a good position.

"We had a few good games in there but we need to find some consistency.”

Keane, capped 10 times by England, graduated through Manchester United’s academy and played five matches for the club before transferring to Burnley in 2015 following a successful season-long loan at Turf Moor.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United have shown the value of stitching together successive victories, wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City propelling United up to fifth.

“They’ve had a great week, they were brilliant against City and have had a few other good results as well,” added Keane, whose Everton team face Arsenal, Burnley, Newcastle United and Manchester City between 21 December and New Year's Day.

“They’ll be full of confidence and obviously we’ve got a bit more confidence from the weekend so there will be two teams going into the match thinking they can win.

“It is always enjoyable going back, I had a great upbringing there, I’ve got a lot of friends at United and my family still support the club, so it’s a big day and a big occasion.

“I loved playing at Old Trafford but I’m sort of ‘over’ all the feelings I had for United as a youngster.

“I’ll be going there firmly as an Everton player and trying to get a win.”