Carlo Ancelotti says Everton’s “bad period is over” following Sunday’s 3-2 victory at Fulham as he urged his team to "find consistency" in their upcoming Premier League matches.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored twice and Abdoulaye Doucoure was on target to earn Ancelotti’s team their first league win since 3 October.

Everton moved above Aston Villa into sixth after resisting a late Fulham revival, substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek scoring via a deflection with 20 minutes remaining to breathe life into the home team’s ambitions.

Everton kicked off the 2020/21 campaign with seven successive victories – a run which represented the Blues’ best start to a season since 1894/95.

The Toffees came into the Fulham match without a win in four matches, however, and manager Ancelotti declared how achieving maximum points was all-important against Fulham.

He also explained why he believes the Blues struggled to sustain their impressive performance level in the first half at Craven Cottage throughout the 90 minutes.

"We were surprised at the start to the season [seven straight wins] and surprised at the defeats,” Ancelotti said.

"Now we are back to winning.

“We need to work to have consistency now the bad period is over.

"We won and played a fantastic first half. We were in charge in the first half. It was really good.

"In the second half we had more difficulties. We lost energy, we had players who were tired.

"We had players coming back from the international break, like Richarlison, James and Allan and we lost a little bit of quality.

“It was tough for them in the physical aspect. This was the reason for the difficulties in the second half."

Calvert-Lewin’s double against Fulham means he has struck 13 times in just 11 matches for Everton this season.

The 23-year-old spearheaded the Blues attack as Ancelotti switched to a 3-4-3 formation for the game in west London.

The Italian praised Calvert-Lewin’s ruthlessness in the penalty box and outlined why he believes midfielder Doucoure can continue contributing goals after opening his Everton account.

Ancelotti said: "We tried to change a little bit [the formation].

“We didn’t have a lot of time to work on this, sometimes it worked well.

"We had our wings-backs who pushed forward a lot. Lucas Digne put a lot of crosses in.

“And the fact is Dominic is ready in the box in this moment.

“He was focused and efficient where the striker has to be. I hope this can continue.

“And Doucoure has this quality to run in the box at the right time.

“It was a fantastic cross from Digne [for Doucoure’s goal], and he is playing really well.”

Next up for Everton is home game against Leeds United on Saturday. The Blues then take on Burnley at Turf Moor, before consecutive Goodison Park clashes with Chelsea and Arsenal.

Ancelotti insists his team must improve their defensive record as Everton aim to embark on another strong run of form.

"We have to be more compact in the backline but we have time to work on that this week,” he added.