Cam back to haunt Bluebirds yet again
CAMERON JEROME destroyed Cardiff again with another goal against his former club as Norwich recorded a hat-trick of league victories.
Jerome, who made more than 70 appearances for the Bluebirds, has now scored in four successive games against Cardiff.
And his latest strike, a 40th-minute winner for Norwich, ended the Canaries’ four-month winless run away from home.
It has been quite a turnaround for Alex Neil’s men, who now sit just three points away from the top six after ending 2016 with just two wins in a stretch of 12 league games.
Cardiff threatened early on through striker Kenneth Zohore, who scored what manager Neil Warnock described as one of the best goals of the season against Preston in midweek.
On this occasion, the Dane headed Matthew Connolly’s cross straight at Canaries goalkeeper John Ruddy.
Norwich handed debuts to Dutch pair Yanic Wildschut and Mitchell Dijks who joined from Wigan and Ajax respectively on deadline day.
Jerome should have scored with half-an-hour played after latching on to Sean Morrison’s wayward header but Allan McGregor was quick off his line to deny the striker.
He would make up for that miss just 10 minutes later by heading his team in front.
The Canaries were awarded a free-kick when Norwich’s talisman was hacked down by Aron Gunnarsson 30 yards from goal.
Republic of Ireland midfielder Wes Hoolahan lofted the ball in and Jerome was strong enough to hold off Sol Bamba and head home.
Canaries boss Neil said: “Our away form has been poor and I’ve been really critical in terms of doing the ugly side of the game – I thought we more than did that today.”
Warnock said: “I’m really pleased with the lads.
“It’s difficult to come off with nothing but we gave a really good account of ourselves against a quite expensive team.”
The striker netted just 31 seconds after kick-off and was gifted another – after a fortuitous second for James McCarthy – as the hosts raced into a 3-0 half-time lead.
However, a Josh King double set up a tenser-than-expected finish before Lukaku added two more late on, becoming Everton’s second-highest Premier League goalscorer just one behind Duncan Ferguson on 60.
There was time for Harry Arter to tap in the visitors’ third ahead of Ross Barkley (right) scoring Everton’s sixth.
Toffees boss Ronald Koeman hailed the finishing of Lukaku after the Belgium international’s four-goal haul.
“He is a world-class striker,” said Koeman. “He is improving.
“The big quality he shows every day in training is not so difficult but being that clinical in finishing how he was today shows he is one of the best.
“I have the pleasure every day to be on the pitch and watch his finishing. He has a world-class quality in scoring goals and that is really important because to win the game today we needed to score at least four goals.”
Koeman admitted he was not happy with the way his side’s performance dipped after the break to give Bournemouth a chance they did not really deserve on their first-half performance.
He said: “It is a strange result after half-time but I think we dropped our intensity a little bit.
“But it was also a big compliment to Bournemouth who played good football in the second half and made it really difficult.”
Koeman had hailed the “different spirit” within the squad following a January clear-out of Darron Gibson, Bryan Oviedo, Tom Cleverley, Oumar Niasse and Gerard Deulofeu.
But new arrivals Morgan Schneiderlin and Ademola Lookman – handed his full Premier League debut – have brought a much-needed dynamism.
The side i s gradually morphing into one which Koeman believes should be t argeting sixth- placed Manchester United, two points ahead albeit with a match in hand, in the quest for European honours this season.
However, while they are still capable of second- half switchoffs like this one, cracking the top-six monopoly may p r o v e difficult. If they are to do it Lukaku’s goals are going to be pivotal.
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe was unhappy with how poor they were defensively and admitted their form is a concern as they slipped to within six points of the relegation zone. “I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I wasn’t concerned,” he said. “It wasn’t pretty was it? It is very difficult when you come here and defend like that. “The first goal killed our preparations. I think today was individual errors. We didn’t handle the goals very well but you have to compliment Everton.” EVERTON: BOURNEMOUTH: Bournemouth’s next game: