Everton crushed Aston Villa 4-0 at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Roberto Martinez's Toffees were irresistible against Remi Garde's hapless Villa who conceded three times before the break.
Ross Barkley opened the scoring in the 17th minute when he was on hand to simply slot home after Brad Guzan had parried Gerard Deulofeu's angled effort before Romelu Lukaku helped himself to his 50th Premier League goal on 28 minutes when he headed home Seamus Coleman's short cross.
Barkley added a third three minutes prior to the half-time whistle when firing home into an empty net as Guzan attempted to foil Arouna Kone before Lukaku wrapped it up 15 minutes into the second half with a firs-time finish from Barkley's pass.
The win has a constantly improving Everton side up to seventh on the back of a three-game unbeaten run while Villa remain bottom of the table having scored just one win in 13 outings.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Everton: 4 (Ross Barkley 17'/42', Romelu Lukaku 28'/59')
Aston Villa: 0
Goodison Park, Liverpool - 38,424
TALKING POINTS
- Everton's attack look to be in career-best form with the likes of Lukaku, Barkley, Deulofeu and Kone all firing. Can they challenge for a top four spot?
- An improved debut under Garde against Man City a fortnight ago has fallen by the wayside. Where to now for Villa? How do they get things back on track?
WHAT'S NEXT?
Everton look ahead to the trip to Bournemouth next weekend as Villa get set to host Watford.
TWITTER INSIGHT
50 up! I feel blessed to be in this situation. Good team performance on to the next game .… https://t.co/74LKDgoG6C
— R.Lukaku Bolingoli10 (@RomeluLukaku9) November 21, 2015We won (4 - 0) Victory dinner #GoTeamEvertonpic.twitter.com/UmzwagPrKO
— ArounaKone (@OfficielArounaK) November 21, 20154 goal, 3 points, and a clean sheet. Great day at the office! #EFC#COYB
— tim howard (@TimHowardGK) November 21, 2015
QUOTES CORNER
Villa boss Garde on the disappointment of losing 4-0 and the current state of the club:
"Of course, I was disappointed, and the players were as well. We could have done much better.
"I knew we had a lot of work to do and we will do it. I knew before coming that it was going to be difficult, but I'm full of energy and I will carry on trying to do that with my players."
Everton's Martinez on the brilliant display of the Toffees:
"I was delighted in the manner we played today - how we carried on the attacking threat from the Sunderland game, but also, more importantly, what we did off the ball and keeping a clean sheet. That was probably the key."
STATS SPECIALS
*Thanks to Opta
50 - Romelu Lukaku has become the 5th different player to score 50 goals in the Premier League before the age of 23. Starlet.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 21, 20157 - Everton's Romelu Lukaku has now scored seven goals in his last seven Premier League appearances. Form.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 21, 2015