The lively Barkley saw another strike deflect over, and an apparent cross from Kevin Mirallas that headed goalwards was tipped over by Adrian as Everton’s improvement continued – although they were grateful that Coleman got in the way of a Payet attempt just before half-time.
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A close-range header conjured the breakthrough and means Lukaku has now been on target in all nine of his Everton appearances against West Ham, including seven goals in seven league games.
West Ham will be without Sam Byram, Andy Carroll, Arthur Masuaku, Diafra Sakho and Gokhan Tore through injury.
Sofiane Boufal, who made his Premier League debut last weekend, scored 11 times in Ligue 1 last season.
“Fast forward seven months from now and you would think the current position would satisfy most Evertonians”.
Everton looked a little more solid at the back after some shaky recent performances, though they did start nervously with West Ham dominating the early exchanges and early chances.
The Hammers travelled to Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon looking to make it three straight wins in the Premier League.
Bilic was further boosted by the return of club-record signing Andre Ayew from injury in the win over Chelsea, and the Ghana global is now closing in on a start after his London Stadium cameo.
“Of course he’s a world-class player”.
“He was really the player between the defence and the front to create and that is what you like to see”.
‘I’m a big fan – I know he divides opinion.
TALKING POINT – Can Barkley and Lukaku lead a Euro charge? “I am a football manager, not a police officer or whatever, so that is it basically”.
For West Ham, a hard week ended with issues off the pitch being followed by problems on them.
For all the fact both sides showed flashes of form, the truth is, this was a poor game, which didn’t come alive until the second half after Everton finally fashioned a goal, which came from a mistake by Winston Reid.
Chelsea have lost just one of their last eight visits to Southampton in the Premier League (W5 D2).
Romelu Lukaku was once more the scourge of the Hammers, scoring one and setting up another as the Toffees produced a strong second half showing. The Belgium worldwide ran beyond the Northern Ireland midfielder into the area and, after cutting back onto his left foot at the near post following Victor Moses’ pass, he nutmegged Forster for his fifth league goal of the season – one more than he managed in 31 games last term.
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The goal effectively killed off the game as a contest, and Everton could have added two or three more in the remaining minutes as they threatened to run rampant against a dejected Hammers backline.
