Everton crush Hull to claim sixth successive home win

Romelu Lukaku struck a late double as Everton's challenge to join the Premier League top-four battle strengthened with a 4-0 rout of relegation-haunted Hull City for a sixth successive home win on Saturday.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin finished off a fine Everton move after eight minutes to slot home his first top-flight goal.

Everton dominated but Hull stayed in the game until 15 minutes from time when midfielder Tom Huddlestone was shown a straight red card for a foul on Idrissa Gueye.

It got worse for Hull almost immediately as substitute Enner Valencia doubled Everton's lead following good build-up play from leading scorer Lukaku.

There was still time for Lukaku to pounce for a quickfire brace in stoppage time, taking his league goal tally for the season to a chart-topping 21.

Everton moved above Manchester United into sixth place, level on 50 points with Arsenal who have two games in hand. United face Middlesbrough on Sunday.

Manager Ronald Koeman, still aims to keep Lukaku:

"The fans love Romelu Lukaku and everyone loves Rom. Yes, you may be able to hold him back for 85 minutes but then he was focused to the last second. We killed the game perfectly.

"You need to have hope in life! Of course we like to keep our best players and we will do the maximum to keep these players but the final decision will be with the player himself."

Koeman also talked up Calvert-Lewin's performance, saying:

"Calvert-Lewin has been out for six to seven weeks with his ankle injury but I took the decision (to play him) because you need to give young players a chance. Whether they are 18 or 35, the best will start and he has been great. He scored his first goal but it's a whole team performance that matters."