Lukaku reaches 20th goal
Lukaku netted with an early penalty and Roberto Martinez's side ignored the howling wind and torrential rain at the Britannia Stadium to add two more goals before half-time through Seamus Coleman and Aaron Lennon.
Everton had suffered a painful League Cup semi-final exit last week, but it had recovered rather better than Mark Hughes' men, with an FA Cup fourth round win followed by its first league win since Boxing Day when it crushed Newcastle on Wednesday.
Martinez's team maintained its momentum with the opening goal in the 11th minute after Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland conceded a penalty when he raced off his line and tripped Tom Cleverley as the Everton midfielder tried to go around him.
Belgium striker Lukaku stepped up to slot home the spot-kick for his first goal in six games.
Everton doubled its lead in the 28th minute when Cleverley curled over a corner and Republic of Ireland defender Coleman dived forward to glance a header past Butland for his first goal since March.Stoke had given a first start to club record signing Giannelli Imbula after the midfielder's £18.3 million move from Porto on transfer deadline day.
Imbula had one of Stoke's few efforts in the first half when he fired over from long range, but Everton winger Lennon put the result beyond doubt when he took advantage of a poor pass from Philipp Wollscheid to slot home in the 42nd minute.
Lukaku almost made it four after the interval when his header from Ross Barkley's cross was tipped on to the crossbar by Butland.
No comments:
Post a Comment