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David Moyes had made clear before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for finding the back of the net should not rest only on his side's forwards. “I demand more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he declared. The Senegalese midfielder and Michael Keane duly obliged, delivering a well-earned victory over the opposition's toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine matches was fairly straightforward as the visitors demonstrated the reason their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a short spell in the latter period, the visitors were subdued all match by the home team's superior intensity and technical ability. Moyes’ team had three goals disallowed for infringements, but a close-range strike from the midfielder in first-half stoppage time and the defender's second-half header ensured there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No one was more in need of scoring more than the young striker, the Goodison Park attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival from the Spanish side and missed a clear opportunity to put his team two goals ahead at the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. The 23-year-old directed the first opportunity of the game wide of the Fulham keeper's crossbar when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

Everton controlled the early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper pushed over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, awarded after Sasa Lukic was booked for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the identical opponent again before halftime but the referee, Andrew Madley, correctly waved away home protests for a sending off. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, however, and withdrew the midfielder at the break.

Barry believed his luck had changed at last when arriving at the far post to convert a low cross by Gueye. But the elation of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was offside when attacking the delivery, and missing, and the video assistant referee backed up the on-field decision. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in the final third, but his overall display validated the manager's choice to keep the faith. His movement and effort kept busy the opposition's back line and contributed to Everton the edge throughout.

The Londoners grew into the game slowly with Sander Berge and the former Everton midfielder the Nigerian working well in the engine room, but the early danger from the visitors was limited. The Mexican striker shot tamely at Jordon Pickford when set up inside the area by Iwobi and put a set-piece from a promising location directly at the Everton wall. That summed up their attacking output.

Everton, inspired by Dewsbury-Hall and the forward, had a another strike chalked off for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper parried a Keane header and James Tarkowski volleyed in the loose ball. The skipper had just strayed offside when nodding down Jack Grealish’s cross in the build-up. But Everton’s third attempt past the keeper counted. The left-back floated a perfect ball to the far post when left unmarked on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a thumping header against the bar and, though the midfielder mishit the rebound, his midfield partner Gueye finished from close range. The relief inside the ground was palpable.

Everton had a third goal ruled out after the restart after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from another inviting Mykolenko cross. The attacker had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was in an offside position when challenging the Fulham defender for the ball that fell to the home player. Everton would have to be patient until the closing stages for the comfort of a two-goal lead. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a corner that Keane glanced past the goalkeeper. He did so with the upper body, and the visitors' protests for a handball were dismissed by the video official.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat after the substitutions of the forward, the Brazilian and the winger. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his feet to prevent Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and stopped the speedster with another important stop in the dying moments.