Ronald Koeman hails 'world class' Romelu Lukaku after Everton hit six against Bournemouth

Ronald Koeman hailed Romelu Lukaku as world class after the striker scored four goals to help Everton to a 6-3 win over Bournemouth.

The Toffees had a comfortable 3-0 half-time lead thanks to two goals from Lukaku, including a strike after just 31 seconds and James McCarthy's first of the season.

But two from Josh King put the result in some doubt until Lukaku doubled his tally and Harry Arter and Ross Barkley traded goals in a manic end to the game.

"Maybe both sets of defenders lost today against the strikers," Koeman told Sky Sports.

"They certainly lost against Romelu because he was world class.

"How he finished, how he scored the goals was really great and that brought the points today."

Lukaku's is now just one goal behind Everton legend Duncan Ferguson (60) in the club's all-time Premier League scorers.

And Koeman labelled the Belgium international as one of the best finishers in the world.

"He is improving," the Dutch manager added. "The big quality he shows every day in training is not so difficult but being that clinical in finishing how he was today shows he is one of the best.

"I have the pleasure every day to be on the pitch and watch his finishing.

"He has a world-class quality in scoring goals and that is really important because to win the game today we needed to score at least four goals."

Despite the victory, Koeman admitted he was not happy with the way his side's performance dipped after the break to give Bournemouth a chance they did not really deserve on their first-half performance.

"I really pleased with the three points today but I'm not happy with what happened after half-time," Koeman said.

"It was a comfortable first-half. We were clinical and three nil up but we dropped. We dropped out intensity.

"It was not our best defensive performance but we scored six goal. It was a crazy game and a crazy result, but in the end I'm happy."