Southampton 0:3 Everton

Romelu Lukaku scored twice as Everton made light of a poor record at Southampton to run out 3-0 winners at St Mary's Stadium.

With one victory from their previous 14 Barclays Premier League visits, history weighed against Everton and Lukaku, who scored an own goal on the ground last season, endured an inauspicious warm-up when his wayward shot struck a fan, prompting the striker to head into the stands to apologise. He proved more accurate once the action got under way, netting a first-half double as Roberto Martinez's men demonstrated their threat on the counter-attack.

The match turned on a fine Tim Howard save, which came less than 60 seconds before Lukaku's headed 22nd-minute opener, while the Belgium forward's second goal also arrived at the end of a quick break. Ross Barkley added a third late on with a crisp finish to bring further pain to Southampton manager Ronald Koeman, who returned to the dugout on crutches after missing the 2-2 draw at Newcastle United last weekend with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.

Lukaku signalled his intent early on, his powerful run halted by Matt Targett's foul just outside the area. Barkley's free-kick clipped the wall and deflected over the crossbar.

Everton were pressed into defensive action in the 14th minute when Graziano Pelle's downward header picked out Dusan Tadic, but his shot was blocked and the visitors scrambled the ball clear.

Pelle, with three goals in the opening three matches of the season, failed to connect properly with a back-post header and flicked it harmlessly wide of Howard's right-hand upright. The hosts continued to force the issue and Sadio Mane brought an excellent stop from Howard with a low close-range effort, before Southampton were caught on the break.

Barkley set free Arouna Kone, who had been the visitors' only change from the opening day after his late leveller from the bench against Watford, down the right after a Southampton corner and the Ivorian’s superb delivery was expertly headed in across goal by Lukaku, who was quick to acknowledge the quality of the assist.

Martinez's men could have extended their lead just before the half-hour, but Barkley's strike from the middle of the area was straight at Maarten Stekelenburg and Tom Cleverley put the rebound wide.

Lukaku did make it 2-0 on the brink of half-time, stroking his shot past Stekelenburg after gathering Barkley's pass.

Koeman introduced his new midfield signing Oriol Romeu Tadic for the second half and Southampton started brightly, with Pelle's half-volley stinging Howard's palms. The Italian carried his side's most potent threat, heading another chance over the bar in the 66th minute as Southampton looked to breach an Everton team with only one clean sheet in their last 17 away league matches.

Mane went close, bringing a full-stretch save from Howard from distance, but Barkley's fine right-footed finish put the result beyond doubt in the 84th minute.

For Martinez, who has promised new arrivals, it was a demonstration of the quality already at his disposal, while Southampton's focus will switch to the first leg of their UEFA Europa League qualifier against FC Midtjylland on Thursday.

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman: "Maybe we had one or two good chances, but the performance was not what we expected, not defensively. We weren't aggressive enough in our defending. We gave too much space to Everton to play. You need better organisation, at least you need better reaction of the players."

Everton manager Roberto Martinez: "It wasn't about the points, it was about the performance. We were so generous with our effort. We made it a complete effort. Remember every time we come to Southampton we find it difficult. We had everything today. Keeping that clean sheet was the pure example of the type of performance we had." (speaking to BT Sport)