Premier League legend Alan Shearer believes Romelu Lukaku must start to score against the top teams if he is to take his game to the next level.
The Belgian forward was the Blues hero once again on Saturday afternoon as he scored four of their six goals in the 6-3 defeat of Bournemouth.
Those goals took him to 16 for the campaign, making him the highest goalscorer in England’s top flight this season.
It also means he now has 78 goals in 152 appearances in an Everton shirt and is just one strike shy of equalling Duncan Ferguson’s record of 60 league goals in the Premier League era.
For many, he is already a world-class player but Shearer believes the 23-year-old needs to do one thing to take his game to the next level.
“He’s got all the attributes to be a top striker. Pace, power, good in the air, can score goals – at 23 years of age he’s certainly getting there,” he told Match of the Day.
“He has a good scoring ratio, and today [against Bournemouth] he was just absolutely superb. He was clever, full of confidence, and gave the goalkeeper no chance.
“His fourth is a brilliant goal, pace and power and a right foot finish. It’s brilliant from Ross Barkley, and Lukaku is too quick, too strong for the defence. Brilliant.
“The one thing that I think will take him to the next level is this; in the last three years, 30 times he’s played against top six opposition, but only three goals.
“He’s been in a struggling team at times, but if he can keep on improving then I think he can get there.”