Everton 4 Stoke City 0: Roberto Martinez hails Gerard Deulofeu

Roberto Martinez hailed Gerard Deulofeu’s “satisfying” performance after the Spaniard helped Everton seal an emphatic win against Stoke City.

The on-loan Barcelona forward broke the deadlock at Goodison Park in the 45th minute before Republic of Ireland international Seamus Coleman doubled the home side’s lead shortly after half-time.

Costa Rican Bryan Oviedo added a third for the Toffees midway through the second half before Romelu Lukaku scored his eighth Premier League goal of the season with 11 minutes remaining.

“It was the most satisfying individual performance that we had because he had to wait for so long to get his chance,” Martinez told BBC Sport.

Martinez also defended Lukaku after Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho had criticised the striker for revealing that the pair haven’t spoken since the Belgian’s deadline day loan switch to Everton on Friday.

“You are always going to get situations like that. When a player is on loan, there is always communication between the players and the clubs but it doesn’t matter what happens in the press, he is focused,” Martinez added.

“He was a presence for us throughout the game.”

Meanwhile Stoke manager Mark Hughes admitted Everton were good value for their three points at Goodison on Saturday.

“If we are honest with ourselves Everton were better, they had more options, were more dynamic and had more pace but we have to pick ourselves up for Wednesday [against Cardiff]. We have to do better then.

“We were disappointed with what we produced. With a minute to go to half-time we should see the half out and to concede either side of half-time knocked the stuffing out of us. The last two Everton goals were a case of us chasing the game.”