Lukaku quick off mark to net four
If Bournemouth could defend as they attack, they would not be where they are now: six points above the relegation zone and staring down, worrying about what might happen.
This was a very strange afternoon, indeed, at Goodison Park. It ended with Bournemouth on the receiving end of a Six Nations scoreline, albeit one that threatened to include a remarkable recovery from three down until Romelu Lukaku thrashed about, completing his hat-trick, then knocking in his fourth goal for good measure. Suddenly, Everton are bouncing again.
Moments before Ross Barkley concluded the scoring, the news arrived on Goodison’s big screen that Liverpool were 2-0 behind at Hull, meaning Everton’s victory here puts them only six points behind their Merseyside rivals.
Having rounded Artur Boruc, the sight of Barkley celebrating the inevitable goal that followed before releasing a shot reflected the confidence of this Everton team and no one is more confident than Lukaku, who is now the Premier League’s joint top scorer.
“He’s a world-class striker and still improving,” warned Everton’s manager, Ronald Koeman. “It’s not easy to be as clinical as he was today.”
Lukaku had made Bournemouth’s prospects appear dark within 31 seconds of the kick-off. As sub-plots go, the one attached to Everton’s opener was unusual. The match day programme included an article written by Everton’s historian, Gavin Buckland, on the subject of early goals, detailing that the quickest in the Premier League era at Goodison Park had been after 32 seconds when David Unsworth thumped a shot past Edwin van der Sar. “You never know when the next one will be, so make sure you are in your seat in time to see the kick-off,” Buckland warned.
Everton went and broke that record. It was an avoidable one from a Bournemouth perspective because Dan Gosling’s pass towards Harry Arter was desperately short and Morgan Schneiderlin, starting for Everton in a home game for the first time, nipped in to intercept.
From there, Lukaku still had much to do but his shot was magnificent and, though Boruc, the Bournemouth goalkeeper, did not seem prepared for it – it was so far in the corner and hit with such power, he was struggling from the moment it was released from Lukaku’s left boot.
The admittance from Eddie Howe that “the timing of the first goal killed our preparation” felt like an understatement considering he had chosen to use a back three for the first time and defenders in their new positions had no opportunity to develop confidence.
By the start of the second half, one of them, Simon Francis, was not there anymore, having been taken off after experiencing a total meltdown by choosing to pass across his own box to assist with Lukaku’s second goal. That put Everton 3-0 up at the break because James McCarthy had earlier extended his team’s lead and, though Joshua King managed to reduce that lead to just one with 20 minutes left, the game was about to take an even more chaotic turn.
Howe was right to be pleased with the effort and determination from Bournemouth and they might have even equalised but with players streaming forward, gaps were appearing at the back, which allowed Lukaku to reach his tally before Arter and finally, Barkley rounded off.