Carlo Ancelotti admitted even he is surprised by Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s consistency after the Everton forward hit a brace in a 3-2 win at Fulham.
The 23-year-old grabbed the opener at Craven Cottage after just 42 seconds and followed it up with another first-half effort to reach double figures in the Premier League this season.
The double put Calvert-Lewin, who has recently established himself as back-up to Harry Kane with England, top of the scoring charts and up to 13 overall for the Toffees this term, and his Italian manager is delighted.
“Now in this moment he is really focused in the box,” Ancelotti said. “Every ball that arrives from crosses, he is ready and is there.
“He is doing really well, honestly I didn’t expect him to have the consistency he has in this period.”
Asked if the one-time Sheffield United youngster could continue his form and challenge for the golden boot, Ancelotti did not play down his chances.
He added: “I hope for him because it would be good for us! To win the golden boot it would mean he is scoring lots of goals and good also for the club, but I don’t know.
“The target is not this for him, the target is to score goals to help the team be at the top of the table.”
After three consecutive defeats, the five-goal thriller at Craven Cottage got the Merseyside outfit back to winning ways and returned them to the top six.
But Ancelotti insisted: “In this moment we don’t have to look at the table.
“We started really well and had a difficult period, now the difficult period is gone and we need to have consistency in our results. Every game will be a test but our target is to fight for the top of the table, not the bottom.”
Fulham boss Scott Parker was left with mixed emotions after goals from Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ruben Loftus-Cheek failed to earn them any reward.
He also saw his team again fail to convert a spot-kick, with Ivan Cavaleiro the latest player to squander an opportunity from 12 yards after Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ademola Lookman both had penalties saved earlier this term.
“You couldn’t have written it,” Parker said. “All I can say is that over the last 10 days we have put things in place and worked tirelessly in terms of preparation and understanding the process.
“Ivan is an exceptional penalty taker and last time I was in this situation with Ade’s, I was angry and disappointed with the way we missed it, but today these things can happen. Of course disappointed but he slipped, it was one of them things.”
Cavaleiro slipped and could only fire over the crossbar in the 68th minute with Everton already 3-1 up and although Loftus-Cheek pulled one back two minutes later, Fulham suffered a seventh defeat of the campaign.
Parker was disappointed with a lack of fight shown during the opening 45 in spite of an improvement after the break.
“Second half there was a reaction but it shouldn’t come from a rollicking at half-time,” he added.
“This team can produce what we were missing in the first half. We have shown that.
“We can be successful this year, I know that and we are a very good team but at the same time we have some deficiencies.”
