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David Moyes had emphasized before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for finding the back of the net must not fall solely on his side's forwards. “I expect more goals from my defenders and central players as well,” he insisted. Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane responded perfectly, delivering a merited victory over the opposition's ineffective team.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine matches was fairly straightforward as Fulham demonstrated the reason their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a brief flurry in the second half, the away side were kept quiet all match by Everton’s greater urgency and technical ability. The Blues had three goals ruled out for infringements, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in added time before the break and Keane’s second-half header made sure there would be no reprieve for their ex-coach.

No player was more in need of scoring more than Thierno Barry, the Everton forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival from the Spanish side and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team two goals ahead at Sunderland 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 dominated the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over James Garner’s 30-yard free-kick, awarded after the Fulham player was yellow-carded for hauling down the Everton midfielder. The Serbian brought down the identical opponent later in the half but the official, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored home protests for a second yellow. Silva was not risking anything, though, and substituted the player at the break.

Barry thought his luck had changed at last when sliding in at the far post to turn in a low cross by Gueye. But the elation of a maiden strike was wiped out by an linesman's decision. Ndiaye was offside when attacking Gueye’s cross, and failing to connect, and the VAR backed up the original call. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in the final third, but his overall display justified the manager's choice to keep the faith. His runs and effort occupied the opposition's back line and contributed to Everton the edge throughout.

Fulham came into the contest gradually with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian working well in the engine room, but the first half threat from the away team was limited. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at the England keeper when set up inside the area by his teammate and put a set-piece from a dangerous position straight into the defensive barrier. And that was it.

Everton, inspired by Dewsbury-Hall and the forward, had a another strike chalked off for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a effort from Keane and James Tarkowski volleyed in the rebound. The skipper had just strayed offside when nodding down the winger's delivery in the build-up. But Everton’s third attempt beating the keeper counted. The left-back delivered a lovely cross to the far post when left unmarked on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. Tarkowski met it with a powerful nod off the crossbar and, though the midfielder fluffed his lines, his teammate the scorer finished from close range. The sense of release inside Hill Dickinson Stadium was palpable.

Everton had a further effort disallowed early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from a further excellent delivery from the left. The attacker had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was in an offside position when challenging Joachim Anderson for the ball that reached the Everton midfielder. Everton would have to wait until the closing stages for the comfort of a second goal. The provider was the architect with a set-piece that Keane glanced over the goalkeeper. He did so with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for handball were rejected by the video official.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat after the substitutions of Josh King, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his legs to prevent the substitute scoring with his initial involvement and stopped the speedster with another important stop in the dying moments.