Analysing Romelu Lukaku’s stunning four-goal haul for Everton against Bournemouth

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Romelu Lukaku’s sensational four-goal haul fired Everton to a thrilling 6-3 victory over Bournemouth. The Belgium international, who signed from Chelsea for a club record fee of £28 million in 2014, was in irresistible form as the Toffees extended their unbeaten run to seven Premier League matches. Lukaku opened the scoring after 30 seconds with an exquisite long-range strike and added a second on the half-hour mark. He sealed his hat-trick seven minutes from time as the match became a frantic end-to-end affair, before netting his fourth goal moments later.

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Lukaku’s exploits sent him soaring to the top of this season’s goalscoring table with 16, overtaking the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The 23-year-old has now netted 59 times in the Premier League for Everton – putting him just one goal behind club legend Duncan Ferguson. It is no surprise then, that Lukaku is cementing himself a fans’ favourite within the blue half of Merseyside, while enhancing his burgeoning reputation as one of the top strikers in Europe.

Bournemouth were completely overpowered by Lukaku, whose physicality and ruthlessness in front of goal made him a formidable opponent. Eddie Howe had switched to three at the back in order to counteract Everton’s attacking threat, but Simon Francis, Steve Cook and Tyrone Mings just could not handle the muscular Belgian. Indeed, it took him less than a minute to show his class. After an intricate move, Lukaku picked up the ball on the edge of the area and curled a delicious shot into the right-hand corner of Artur Boruc’s net.

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His second goal – and Everton’s third – came gift-wrapped after Francis inexplicably passed the ball straight to Lukaku, who duly obliged by tucking the ball home. Bournemouth scored twice to set up an intriguing finale, only for their nemesis to extinguish any hope of a comeback with two goals in quick succession. Both were equally clinical and gave Boruc no chance. First, he pounced on Seamus Coleman’s cross to fire home from close range and then latched on to Ross Barkley’s through ball, shrugging off the attentions of both Cook and Mings to complete a sensational afternoon’s work.

Lukaku has always had endless potential but his goalscoring record now stands up against the best strikers in the Premier League. This season in particular has seen a marked improvement. He averages a goal every 125 minutes and 64 per cent of his shots have been on target. Lukaku can bully defenders, pulling them out of position and generally giving them a torrid time. He also has pace to burn. With six goals in his past three home appearances, Lukaku clearly enjoys playing at Goodison Park. If he continues to spearhead the Everton attack with such gusto, he could even lead them to a Champions League spot.