At 12.40pm today the drums will roll to herald the start of Johnny Todd, also known as the theme from Z Cars, and an almighty roar will fill Goodison Park. Hairs on the back of Evertonian necks will stand on end as they prepare for the most eagerly awaited match on their fixture list, knowing that, even at this early stage of the season, there is more than local pride at stake.

Everton are in a curious place, ninth in the Barclays Premier League table but, for the opening weeks of the season, engulfed by a strange sense of restlessness that has stemmed from a frustrating summer. This was supposed to be the season when David Moyes’s team stepped up their attempt to challenge for supremacy on Merseyside. However, the signings of a series of little-known players shortly before the transfer window closed — Lars Jacobsen, Segundo Castillo and, at a cost of £15 million, Marouane Fellaini — have struggled to captivate their fan base. Those supporters fear that their delightfully old-fashioned club are in danger of being left behind on the pitch, as well as off it, at a time when overseas investors and sparkling new stadiums are all the rage.

All summer long, even as they pursued players such as João Moutinho, the Sporting Lisbon and Portugal midfield player, and Vágner Love, the CSKA Moscow and Brazil forward, there was a sense of unrest among Everton fans. After another limp performance on Wednesday night, as they were knocked out of the Carling Cup by Blackburn Rovers, the 6,000 visiting supporters at Ewood Park made clear their displeasure. So is a Merseyside derby against Liverpool the perfect pick-me-up, or do Everton’s chastened players need this match like a hole in the head?

“I would be lying if I said we were bubbling right now,” Moyes, the manager, said at the club’s training ground at Finch Farm yesterday. “My job is to get that right. You have to be prepared to take risks. There are periods of low confidence at any club and you have to be ready for them. My job is to raise that confidence.”

If only all Everton’s players were made of the same stuff as Tim Cahill, whose sunny Australian character must set him apart in a squad in which Joleon Lescott and Joseph Yobo, the defenders, to name but two, appear to be going through a crisis of confidence.

“I’m a positive person,” Cahill said. “If the fans aren’t happy because there are no signings or whatever, then that to me is a positive because it shows everyone wants to do well. I haven’t felt negativity around the club because we’ve had the same situation here every year. We can’t all of a sudden make excuses. We’ve signed some players and we’ve lost a few. As players, we have to take responsibility.”

If Everton’s players take that liability, if they take the fight to Liverpool and get a result, the optimism will come flooding back. That is the nature of modern football, in which you are only as good as your last match. If they lose, by contrast, the clouds that have gathered over Goodison Park in recent weeks will darken and the blue part of Merseyside will not be a happy place this evening.

“Beating Liverpool would be the ideal lift and that is the only way we can look at it,” Cahill said. “That’s the beauty of this game. It goes beyond football. It goes into people’s lives and livelihoods. I lived in Liverpool for four years [before moving to Manchester], so I understand what it’s like to walk down the street to get a carton of milk after a derby.”

Moyes has dismissed rumours that he may finally sign his new five-year contract on the pitch before today’s match. “There was the odd little bit [to renegotiate], but the contract has been back with the club for four weeks now,” he said. “I’ll wait on it. I don’t think it’s too far away.”