Mason Holgate credits time away from Everton for his recent resurgence.
Holgate scored his first goal for the Blues in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Watford as Marco Silva’s side booked their place in the quarter final draw.
The defender’s second-half header came just three days after he had recorded an assist for Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s goal during the defeat at Brighton on Saturday.
Silva allowed Holgate to pursue regular first-team football at West Bromwich Albion with a loan spell during the second half of the previous campaign.
And the centre-back feels that his experience in the Championship, where he made 23 appearances and contributed one goal, aided his current development.
“Like I’ve said since I’ve come back from my loan, I’ve always just wanted to play first-team football,” he told Click Liverpool.
“I felt like I learned a lot on loan last year and I’ve been saying all along like I just want to be able to prove it.
“But now I’m getting a chance. I’ve had a chance in the last couple of games, I’m really excited.”
He added: “I think physically [it helped] and it had been a long time since I was playing week in, week out so it’s helped me a lot with my consistency.
“I felt like before, when I was younger, it was a lot up and down. But now, since I learned at West Brom that I need to be at a consistent level every week.
“Hopefully that’s something I’m going to be able to go and prove.”
Holgate also believes that a quick turnaround of games has allowed Everton’s players to keep their concentration despite the loss at the Amex Stadium.
He added: “The way Saturday went, we were all really disappointed.
“We felt like it was a decision we couldn’t affect so to have a such a quick turnaround into [Watford] is something that’s posiitive for us all.
“We can stayed focused and I feel like we’ve performed and done well.”