Five things we learned as Everton continued their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with a 3-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Everton’s strong start under new manager Ronald Koeman continued with a second half Romelu Lukaku hat-trick sealing a 3-0 win and three points against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
The result takes the Toffees up to third in the Premier League table, level on points with second placed Chelsea and two behind leaders Manchester City.
Here are five things we learned from the match:
1. Lukaku is back
After going 1,100 minutes of competitive football without a goal for Everton, Lukaku ended his drought in ruthless fashion as he bagged an 11-minute hat-trick at the Stadium of Light.
After a frustrating first half, the 23-year-old grabbed his first of the evening just before the hour mark as he headed in Idrissa Gueye’s cross past Jordan Pickford to make it 1-0.
Shortly after the Belgian headed in another, this time from Yannick Bolasie’s back post cross from the left before Kevin Mirallas played him through on goal to seal his hat-trick.
And that could be exactly the confidence boost Lukaku needed to get his season up and running as following his first goal he looked a much more confident and threatening player up front as he could have had four or five goals had it not been for Pickford.
With Middlesbrough visiting Goodison Park next week, you’d expect Lukaku to make his mark on the match once again as he looks to return to regular goal-scoring form.
2. Idrissa Gueye is looking like the potential signing of the summer
For £7.1m Idrissa Gueye is proving to be somewhat of a steal as he looks to have stepped up his game massively following a disastrous first season in the Premier League with relegated Aston Villa.
The Senegalese international was still one of Villa’s better players last season and now at Everton he is proving to be quite the formidable midfielder alongside Gareth Barry.
Against Sunderland, he protected the back four comfortably and professionally and it’s hard to believe Villa conceded so many goals last season with Gueye in the team.
Are we seeing the next N’Golo Kante in the making?
3. Bolasie is pretty good too
When a club spends £25m on a player from Crystal Palace questions are always going to be asked, particularly when that player only grabs a few goals a season.
But Bolasie proved his worth against the Black Cats with a menacing performance down the wing as he caused persistent problems for Sunderland’s defence with his pace and trickery.
He then provided the perfect cross to Lukaku on the back post who simply couldn’t miss.
£25m may be a lot of money but if Bolasie keeps putting in these sort of performances then it will start to look like a bit of a steal.
4. Don’t get too far ahead of ourselves
Everton may be unbeaten and sit joint second in the Premier League but let’s just remember that we’re only four games into the season and anything can still happen.
Obviously a positive start is ideal but you also have to take into account the opposition. Fair enough a draw at Tottenham is a positive result but other than that the Toffees have faced poor Stoke, West Brom and Sunderland teams so are yet to be truly tested so far.
Even their upcoming matches aren’t exactly the toughest with home games against Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace coming up with an away trip to Bournemouth in between.
After that Koeman’s side travel to Manchester City which should be the game where we get a real insight into where Everton really stand this season.
Having said that…
5. Everton look back to their best under Koeman
It is only early days but Koeman has really got Everton playing like winners again, there’s a hunger and a desire to attack opponents and limit their chances that was distinctly lacking in the final days of Roberto Martinez’s reign.
If you look back to the same fixture a couple of months go where Everton were beaten 3-0 by Sunderland in a game that ultimately cost Martinez his job – you can see the change in attitude of the players as Koeman looks to have turned things around for the better.
Ross Barkley’s performance was perhaps the only remotely negative thing to take from last night as Everton look like a team who can once again challenge for Europe.
Although it is still very early in the season, the signs are looking good.
Where will Everton finish this season?
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