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David Moyes had stressed before the match against Fulham that the responsibility for finding the back of the net should not fall solely on his side's strikers. “I want more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he insisted. Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane rose to the occasion, earning a merited victory over Marco Silva’s toothless side.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine matches was relatively comfortable as the visitors highlighted why their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a short spell in the second half, the visitors were kept quiet all match by Everton’s superior intensity and quality. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for infringements, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s second-half header ensured there would be no comeback for the former Everton manager.

No one needed a goal more than Thierno Barry, the Goodison Park forward who had failed to register a shot on target in 10 league games without testing the goalkeeper after his big-money move from the Spanish side and missed a gilt-edged chance to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. The youngster headed the earliest chance of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s crossbar when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

The home side dominated the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, given after Sasa Lukic was booked for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the same player again before halftime but the official, the man in charge, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a sending off. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, though, and withdrew the midfielder at the break.

Barry believed his luck had changed at last when arriving at the far post to turn in a low cross by his teammate. But the elation of a first Everton goal was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was offside when going for the delivery, and failing to connect, and the VAR backed up the on-field decision. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in the final third, but his overall display justified Moyes’ decision to stick with him. His movement and work-rate kept busy the opposition's back line and helped give Everton the edge all game.

The Londoners came into the contest slowly with the Norwegian and the ex-Goodison player Alex Iwobi working well in the engine room, but the early danger from the away team was minimal. The Mexican striker fired weakly at the England keeper when teed up in the box by his teammate and put a set-piece from a dangerous position directly at the Everton wall. And that was it.

Everton, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a another strike disallowed for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper parried a Keane header and James Tarkowski volleyed in the rebound. The skipper had just strayed beyond the last defender when nodding down Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But the team's third attempt past Leno did stand. The left-back floated a perfect ball to the back post when left unmarked on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. Tarkowski connected with a powerful nod against the bar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his teammate the scorer converted from point-blank. The sense of release inside Hill Dickinson Stadium was evident.

The home side had a further effort disallowed early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from another inviting Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had cushioned the delivery into the striker, who was offside when competing with Joachim Anderson for the touch that fell to the Everton midfielder. The team would have to wait until the closing stages for the security of a two-goal lead. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a corner that the defender directed past Leno. He scored with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for a handball were rejected by VAR.

Silva’s side posed more danger after the introductions of the forward, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. Pickford made a fine stop with his legs to prevent Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and stopped the speedster with another important stop late on.