Transformation of Everton’s Arouna Kone complete with hat-trick against Sunderland

The Ivorian football player has gone from infrequent scorer to irresistible striker, rendering him the headline act on Sunday, writes Richard Jolly.

Arouna Kone of Everton celebrates scoring his side's fifth goal during the Premier League match against Sunderland at Goodison Park on November 1, 2015. Chris Brunskill / Getty Images

Everton 6

Deulofeu 19’, Kone 31’, 62’, 76’, Coates 55’ (og), Lukaku 60’

Sunderland 2

Defoe 45’, Fletcher 50’

Man of the match Gerard Deulofeu (Everton)

There have been few more profitable afternoons. Metaphorically, anyway, Arouna Kone departed Goodison Park with the match ball in his hands, a new contract in his pocket and a place in the hearts of Evertonians. This was a day to secure his financial and footballing future. A historic occasion for Everton was a horrific one for Sunderland.

Above all, however, it was an uplifting day for Kone. His Everton career had encompassed three goals, spread over 27 months and 34 games. Three more were separated by a mere 46 minutes of football and the half-time interval. It was that sort of day for player and club alike. Everton struck six times in a league game for the first time since 2007. Sunderland, thrashed then, endured another traumatic time at Goodison Park.

Manager Sam Allardyce brings a promise of solidity, but Sunderland were a shambles. Everton’s home wins had been rarities but this just a second of the season was as emphatic as it was ultimately entertaining. Kone’s transformation from infrequent scorer to irresistible striker rendered him the headline act, but it was an illustration of the ability in Everton’s ranks. Romelu Lukaku mustered two more goals of his own. Gerard Deulofeu, the other scorer, was arguably better than either.

The sight of a trio of Evertonians illuminating Goodison Park was apt. On Thursday, Everton bade farewell to their former player and manager Howard Kendall. He, Colin Harvey and Alan Ball, the three midfielders in their 1970 title-winning team, were branded “the holy trinity”. Three days after Kendall’s funeral, Everton boasted another terrific triumvirate, this time of pacey attackers.

Lukaku was already Everton’s £28 million (Dh102.8m) record signing, Deulofeu the prodigy from Barcelona who, without progressing to become a regular at the Nou Camp, had advertised his talent but Kone has proved this season’s revelation. He was perceived as Roberto Martinez’s folly, an attacking Antolin Alcaraz, another who had followed the Spaniard from Wigan and made a negligible impact at Goodison Park. He was booed on to the field against Watford on the opening day and cheered off it on Sunday. “It was the most complete 90 minutes he has had,” manager Roberto Martinez said. “It was a phenomenal 90 minutes because it triggers an extension to his contract.”

It capped a personal comeback. “He had a career-threatening [knee] injury,” Martinez said. “He is a sensational example to any young footballer facing adversity.” An eager worker may be the frontrunner for Everton’s player of the year award. Kone plays with more enthusiasm than finesse, but two rasping left-footed finishes were followed by a bullet header. His sixth goal as an Evertonian was their sixth of the day.

Yet Deulofeu was the real catalyst. He is an antidote to the Everton who frustrated their supporters last season when a capacity to pass the ball sideways brought few goals and plenty of anguish. The Spaniard is a thrillingly direct runner, a high-speed dribbler who is starting to lose the selfishness of youth. He supplied both of Lukaku’s goals, just as he did against West Bromwich Albion in September. He is adding assists to his armoury.

He rarely defends, which rendered his contest with Patrick van Aanholt pivotal. Sunderland’s left wing-back rattled the post and fashioned their second goal, which was scored by Steven Fletcher. Deulofeu streaked away from him to open the scoring and fashioned two more goals. Even after he departed, to a standing ovation, Lukaku, with a languid, outside-of-the-boot cross, created Everton’s sixth, again from the profitable channel on their right.

Allardyce had changed tack, accommodating two strikers, and Jermain Defoe and Fletcher both scored. His own analysis of the systemic switch was delivered with a chuckle. “Not good when you have lost 6-2,” he said. Despite supposedly reinforcing his defence with a third centre-back, Sunderland developed holes, especially in a seven-minute spell when Everton scored three times. “Three silly, sloppy goals,” Allardyce rued, but Kone could savour his transformative trio.

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