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David Moyes had stressed before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for finding the back of the net must not rest only on the team's forwards. “I demand more goals from my defenders and central players as well,” he stated. Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane responded perfectly, securing a merited victory over Marco Silva’s toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine matches was relatively comfortable as Fulham showed the reason their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a short spell in the latter period, the away side were contained all match by the home team's greater urgency and technical ability. The Blues had three goals disallowed for infringements, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and the defender's second-half header made sure there would be no comeback for their ex-coach.

No one was more in need of scoring as much as Thierno Barry, the Goodison Park attacker who had failed to register a shot on target in 10 league games without a shot on target after his big-money move from the Spanish side and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at Sunderland earlier in the week. The 23-year-old directed the earliest chance of the game over Bernd Leno’s crossbar when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

The home side controlled the early exchanges and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over James Garner’s 30-yard free-kick, given after Sasa Lukic was booked for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The Serbian tripped the same player again before halftime but the official, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored home protests for a second yellow. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, however, and withdrew the player at the interval.

The striker thought his fortune had finally turned when arriving at the far post to turn in a drilled pass by Gueye. But the joy of a first Everton goal was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was offside when going for Gueye’s cross, 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 the manager's choice to stick with him. His movement and effort kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and helped give the hosts the edge all game.

Fulham came into the contest gradually with Sander Berge and the former Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi 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 in the box by Iwobi and sent a free-kick from a promising location straight into the Everton wall. And that was it.

Everton, driven on by the midfielder and Ndiaye, had a another strike chalked off for offside when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a Keane header and James Tarkowski fired home the rebound. The home captain had just strayed beyond the last defender when nodding down Jack Grealish’s cross in the build-up. But the team's next effort beating Leno counted. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a perfect ball to the far post when left unmarked on the left flank by Tim Iroegbunam. Tarkowski met it with a powerful nod off the crossbar and, though the midfielder fluffed his lines, his teammate the scorer converted from point-blank. The sense of release inside the ground was palpable.

Everton had a further effort ruled out early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall scored from a further excellent delivery from the left. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was offside when competing with Joachim Anderson for the ball that fell to the Everton midfielder. The team would have to be patient until the 81st minute for the comfort of a second goal. The provider was the creator with a set-piece that Keane glanced over Leno. He scored with the upper body, and the visitors' protests for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Silva’s side posed more danger following the substitutions of the forward, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper saved well with his feet to deny Muniz finding the net with his first touch and stopped Traoré with another important stop in the dying moments.