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David Moyes had emphasized before the match against Fulham that the onus for finding the back of the net must not fall solely on the team's strikers. “I demand more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he insisted. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender rose to the occasion, delivering a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective side.

Everton’s second victory in nine matches was relatively comfortable as the visitors demonstrated why their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a short spell in the latter period, the away side were kept quiet throughout by Everton’s superior intensity and quality. The Blues had three goals ruled out for offside, but a close-range strike from the midfielder in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s second-half header ensured there would be no comeback for the former Everton manager.

No player was more in need of scoring more than Thierno Barry, the Everton forward 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 missed a clear opportunity to put his team two goals ahead at Sunderland earlier in the week. The 23-year-old headed the earliest chance of the game wide of the Fulham keeper's goal frame when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

The home side controlled the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over James Garner’s 30-yard free-kick, awarded after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for fouling the Everton midfielder. The Serbian brought down the same player later in the half but the official, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a sending off. Silva was not risking anything, though, and substituted the midfielder 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 first Everton goal was erased by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was offside when going for the delivery, and failing to connect, and the video assistant referee backed up the original call. The forward's bad luck may have continued in front of goal, but his all-round performance validated Moyes’ decision to keep the faith. His movement and effort occupied Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to the hosts the upper hand all game.

The Londoners grew into the game gradually with the Norwegian and the ex-Goodison player Alex Iwobi working well in midfield, but the first half threat from the away team was minimal. The Mexican striker fired weakly at the England keeper when set up inside the area by Iwobi and sent a free-kick from a promising location straight into the defensive barrier. And that was it.

The Blues, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a second goal chalked off for an infringement when Leno parried a Keane header and James Tarkowski volleyed in the rebound. The skipper had just strayed offside when nodding down Jack Grealish’s cross in the build-up. But the team's next effort past the keeper counted. The left-back floated a lovely cross 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 the ground was palpable.

Everton had a further effort disallowed after the restart after the playmaker found the bottom corner from a further excellent Mykolenko cross. The attacker had laid off the ball into Barry, who was offside when challenging the Fulham defender for the ball that reached the Everton midfielder. Everton would have to wait until the 81st minute for the security of a two-goal lead. The provider was the architect 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 VAR.

Fulham carried more of a threat following the substitutions of the forward, Rodrigo Muniz and the winger. Pickford made a fine stop with his feet to deny Muniz scoring with his first touch and stopped the speedster with another important stop in the dying moments.