Everton

Graeme Jones elated with fledgling Arouna Kone-Romelu Lukaku partnership

By Simon Sinclair, Reporter | 31 March 2015

Everton assistant boss Graeme Jones admits that he is elated with the progress he is seeing from the partnership between Romelu Lukaku and Arouna Kone.

Everton assistant boss Graeme Jones has revealed that he is delighted with the progress that Romelu Lukaku and Arouna Kone are making as a striking partnership.

The duo have played up front together in the Toffees' last two matches in the Premier League, which have resulted in back-to-back wins for Roberto Martinez's men.

Jones believes that the growing partnership is making Everton a more potent threat in the final third of the pitch due to the diversity of the two players.

He told the club's official website: "Clearly there are two different tactics – on-the-ball and off-the-ball. On-the-ball it looks a very natural partnership. Arouna, having worked with him previously, is fantastic at taking the ball and he has really good one-v-one qualities.

"We all know Romelu is a very flexible centre-forward. Everyone likes to stereotype him as a target man and somebody who can get hold of the ball, but Rom can play as a 6ft 3in winger sometimes. He has great ability and with space can hurt anybody.

"The most important thing is that they have chemistry, a connection and enjoy playing together. Once you have got that, it's not just a thing a management team can fabricate. It's just something else in our armoury that we can use to win football matches."

Everton play Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday at Goodison Park.