Those heroics will have been of little comfort to Stoke manager Mark Hughes, whose side continued to offer little in attack and were booed by some of the home fans at the final whistle.
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Stoke City’s troubling recent form persisted in suitably miserable conditions at the Britannia Stadium, as free-scoring Everton ran riot in a 3-0 Premier League victory.
Stoke tried to find a quick reply but Mame Biram Diouf nodded off target from Ibrahim Afellay’s cross, before Imbula sent a wild shot high and wide, and Mark Hughes’ men imploded three minutes before the break. I thought [Jack] Butland was outstanding; I think the one-v-one situation with Arouna Kone, the save from Romelu Lukaku they defended with numbers at times and put in good blocks. We are still negotiating and I’m quite comfortable with where we are with it. “It’s ongoing and will continue to be I’m sure, maybe up until the summer – if so, so be it. “We still think we have something we can offer him he will be delighted with”.
Everton are now up to seventh in the Premier League after Saturday’s victory and Martinez could not hide his delight at his side’s performance. 0 on Tuesday, their ninth loss of the campaign.
Barkley showed what an instinctive genius he is with his backheel in the build-up to the penalty for Everton’s first goal and such players are priceless in big tournaments. Scored the third and was a constant thorn in Stoke’s side. “He is back to himself”, said the Toffees boss.
Very similar to what we did against Newcastle and in the FA Cup Fourth Round [against Carlisle] weve been able to start the game well with a lot of concentration but once we had that lead we were able to use it to our advantage and we were able to create even more opportunities in the second half.
Romelu Lukaku picked up a back injury in midweek and will be assessed ahead of this weekend, and Roberto Martinez will definitely be without John Stones, Tim Howard and Mo Besic. “He will do anything to make himself available and at times, he’s not 100 per cent but he wants to be out there and be a focal point”. “It is always important to have that consistency throughout the season and Rom has been giving us that and I hope he will be pain free”.
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Stones is still sidelined for Everton along with goalkeeper Tim Howard and midfielder Muhamed Besic.
