Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku might not have had a good game against West Brom and Stoke in his last two Premier League matches, but the Everton forward was at his menacing best against Sunderland on Monday. Lukaku scored an 11-minute hat-trick in the second half to help his team emerge victorious with the score reading 3-0 at the Stadium of Light.
Everton looked a good team in the first half, but they could not convert their dominant possession of 65 percent into goals. But they looked like a huge offensive threat in the second half to score three goals.
Lukaku scored the first goal for Everton with a brilliant header in the 60th minute. That goal gave the Belgian confidence as he began to threaten Sunderland's goal consistently. The striker did not take much time to double his tally with another easy header in the 68th minute. Sunderland were not marking Lukaku, who is strong in the air, tightly. Lukaku completed his hat-trick in the 71st minute with a cool finish.
The striker could have scored more had he been clinical in front of goal for the entire 90 minutes. Lukaku also praised the services of Yannick Bolasie and Kevin Mirallas, who helped him score those goals.
"I think we could have done better, especially in the first half. Up front we didn't keep the ball and create enough. But the second half we performed way better and it was deserved win," Lukaku told Sky Sports.
"It was all about my fitness levels, they weren't as good as I wanted them to be. But in the Premier League you have to be focused until the end and I got good service from Yannick [Bolasie] and Kevin [Mirallas] at the end and managed to finish the chances.
"I think I could have had five really, I need to be more of a serial killer if I want to help the team achieve it's objective."
After this win, Everton have climbed to third position in the standings table, and are tied on points with Chelsea. With Lukaku roaring back to form, Everton can think of greater things from the Belgian in future matches.
