Premier League round-up: Republic of Ireland midfielders James McCarthy and Harry Arter were both on target in a high-scoring clash at Goodison Park as Everton won a nine-goal thriller 6-3.
Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku was the star of the show, scoring four times after and needing all of 31 seconds to fire the Toffees in front.
That set the tone as McCarthy doubled the lead in the 23rd minute from Lukaku’s assist and the Belgian’s second made it 3-0 after 29 minutes.
But Joshua King gave Bournemouth hope in the 59th minute when he poked home from close-range and the nerves were apparent around Goodison after King made it 3-2 with 20 minutes to go.
However, Lukaku scored his third and fourth goals of the afternoon seconds apart inside the last 10 minutes to secure the victory.
There was time for Arter to pull one back, but Ross Barkley had the final word in a 6-3 Everton win.
Harry Kane struck from the penalty spot to give Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 victory over struggling Middlesbrough at White Hart Lane and reduce the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea to nine points.
Spurs outclassed Middlesbrough throughout, but took almost an hour to transfer their dominance to the scoreboard, England striker Kane firing home a 57th-minute penalty after Son Heung-Min was felled in the box by Bernardo.
Middlesbrough had their chances to equalise with Alvaro Negredo firing an acrobatic scissors kick wide with five minutes to go and Marten De Roon‘s injury-time shot also going close.
Most eyes were on the fight at the bottom and specifically Selhurst Park, where Sam Allardyce's Crystal Palace suffered a 4-0 hammering at the hands of his old club Sunderland – with all the goals in the first half.
Lamine Kone – signed by Allardyce for the Black Cats – swept home the rebound when Wayne Hennessey spilt Sebastian Larsson's 10th minute free-kick.
But it was during a crazy few minutes before half-time that Palace’s afternoon completely fell apart.
Didier Ndong made it 2-0 with his first goal for Sunderland when he nicked the ball off Joe Ledley and rifled home in the 43rd minute.
Jermain Defoe then scored twice in first-half stoppage time to leave Sunderland fans in dreamland.
However, the win was not enough to lift the Black Cats off the foot of the table thanks to Hull’s 2-0 victory over Liverpool.
Early drama was the order of the day with six goals and a red card inside the opening 15 minutes of the six 3pm kick-offs.
The red card came at Vicarage Road where Burnley's Republic of Ireland midfielder Jeff Hendrick was sent off for a two-footed challenge on Watford's Jose Holebas.
Watford swiftly took advantage as Troy Deeney scored in the 10th minute with a powerful header.
The Hornets doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time through M’Baye Niang’s header.
Ireland winger Robbie Brady came on in the 55th minute to make his Burnley debut and there was was a glimmer of hope for the Clarets when Sebastian Prodl handled on the line, and Ashley Barnes's penalty went in off the post, but Watford hung on to win 2-1.
At Southampton, Manolo Gabbiadini needed only 12 minutes of his debut to score for the Saints, hammering a shot in off the underside of the bar, but that was about all that went right in a 3-1 loss to West Ham.
The celebrations were barely over before West Ham replied through Andy Carroll’s 14th minute strike.
Pedro Obiang's low shot deflected in to make it 2-1 before the break, and seven minutes into the second half Mark Noble's free-kick deflected off Steven Davis to find the net.
James Morrison scored his second goal of the week as he opened the scoring for West Brom against Stoke just six minutes in.
Saido Berahino was introduced as a substitute against the team he left in January, but barely made an impact as West Brom won 1-0.
