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David Moyes had made clear before the match against Fulham that the responsibility for finding the back of the net must not rest only on his side's strikers. “I demand more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he insisted. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender duly obliged, delivering a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective team.

Everton’s second victory in nine outings was largely untroubled as the visitors showed the reason their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a brief flurry in the second half, the visitors were subdued throughout by the home team's greater urgency and technical ability. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for offside, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and the defender's second-half header made sure there would be no reprieve for their ex-coach.

No one was more in need of scoring as much as the young striker, the Everton attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target 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 headed the first opportunity of the game wide of the Fulham keeper's goal frame when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

The home side controlled the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, awarded after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the identical opponent later in the half but the official, the man in charge, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a sending off. The Fulham boss was taking no further chances, though, and withdrew the player at the interval.

The striker thought his fortune had finally turned when arriving at the far post to convert a low cross by Gueye. But the joy of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was offside when going for the delivery, and missing, and the video assistant referee backed up the on-field decision. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in front of goal, but his all-round performance validated the manager's choice to keep the faith. His runs and work-rate occupied Fulham’s central defenders and helped give Everton the upper hand throughout.

The Londoners grew into the game slowly with the Norwegian and the former Everton midfielder the Nigerian working well in midfield, but the early danger from the visitors was minimal. The Mexican striker shot tamely at Jordon Pickford when set up inside the area by Iwobi and sent a free-kick from a promising location directly at the Everton wall. And that was it.

The Blues, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a another strike disallowed for offside when Leno saved a Keane header and James Tarkowski volleyed in the loose ball. The skipper had just strayed beyond the last defender when nodding down the winger's cross in the buildup. But the team's third attempt beating the keeper did stand. The left-back floated a perfect ball to the back post when left unmarked on the left flank by the youngster. Tarkowski met it with a thumping header against the bar and, though Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his teammate Gueye converted from point-blank. The sense of release inside the ground was evident.

Everton had a third goal disallowed early in the second half after the playmaker scored from a further excellent Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had laid off the ball into Barry, who was offside when competing with the Fulham defender for the ball that reached the Everton midfielder. Everton would have to be patient until the closing stages for the comfort of a two-goal lead. The provider was the creator with a corner that Keane glanced past the goalkeeper. He did so with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for handball were rejected by VAR.

Fulham carried more of a threat after the introductions of the forward, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. Pickford made a fine stop with his feet to deny Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and stopped the speedster with a crucial save in the dying moments.