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David Moyes had emphasized before the match against Fulham that the onus for finding the back of the net should not fall solely on his side's forwards. “I want more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and Michael Keane rose to the occasion, delivering a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine matches was fairly straightforward as Fulham showed the reason their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a brief flurry in the latter period, the away side were kept quiet all match by the home team's superior intensity and quality. Moyes’ team had three efforts ruled out for offside, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s late conversion made sure there would be no comeback for their ex-coach.

No one was more in need of scoring more than the young striker, the Goodison Park forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival from Villarreal and missed a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. The 23-year-old headed the earliest chance of the game over the Fulham keeper's goal frame when found by his teammate's fine cross.

Everton dominated the early exchanges and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, awarded after Sasa Lukic was booked for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the same player again before halftime but the official, the man in charge, rightly ignored home protests for a second yellow. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, though, and substituted the midfielder at the interval.

The striker thought his luck had finally turned when arriving at the back post to turn in a drilled pass by his teammate. But the joy of a maiden strike was erased by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was offside when attacking Gueye’s cross, and missing, and the VAR supported the on-field decision. Barry’s misfortune may have persisted in the final third, but his all-round performance validated the manager's choice to stick with him. His movement and work-rate kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and helped give the hosts the upper hand all game.

Fulham grew into the game gradually with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian working well in the engine room, but the first half threat from the visitors was limited. Raúl Jiménez shot tamely at Jordon Pickford when teed up in the box by his teammate and put a free-kick from a promising location straight into the defensive barrier. And that was it.

Everton, driven on by the midfielder and the forward, had a second goal chalked off for offside when Leno parried a Keane header and the captain volleyed in the rebound. The skipper had moved beyond the last defender when nodding down the winger's delivery in the buildup. But Everton’s third attempt past the keeper counted. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a lovely cross to the back post when found in space on the left by the youngster. The defender connected with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though the midfielder fluffed his lines, his midfield partner Gueye finished from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was evident.

Everton had a further effort ruled out early in the second half after the playmaker found the bottom corner from another inviting delivery from the left. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was offside when challenging the Fulham defender for the ball that reached the Everton midfielder. The team would have to be patient until the closing stages for the comfort of a second goal. The provider was the creator with a corner that the defender glanced over the goalkeeper. He scored with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for a handball were rejected by the video official.

Silva’s side posed more danger after the substitutions of the forward, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper saved well with his feet to prevent Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and denied Traoré with another important stop late on.