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David Moyes had emphasized before the match against Fulham that the onus for scoring goals should not rest only on the team's forwards. “I want more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he declared. The Senegalese midfielder and Michael Keane duly obliged, earning a well-earned victory over the opposition's ineffective side.

Everton’s second win in nine outings was fairly straightforward as Fulham highlighted the reason their leading scorer this season is goals gifted by opponents. Apart from a brief flurry in the second half, the away side were kept quiet throughout by Everton’s greater urgency and quality. Moyes’ team had three efforts disallowed for offside, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s second-half header made sure there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No player needed a goal more than the young striker, the Everton forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his £27m summer arrival from the Spanish side and missed a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. The youngster directed the earliest chance of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s crossbar when found by his teammate's fine cross.

Everton dominated the early exchanges and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, awarded after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for fouling the Everton midfielder. Lukic brought down the same player again before halftime but the referee, Andrew Madley, correctly waved away Everton appeals for a sending off. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, however, and withdrew the player at the interval.

The striker believed his fortune had changed at last when sliding in at the far post to convert a drilled pass by Gueye. But the elation of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was offside when attacking the delivery, and failing to connect, and the VAR supported the original call. The forward's bad luck may have continued in the final third, but his all-round performance validated the manager's choice to stick with him. His movement and effort kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and helped give Everton the upper hand all game.

Fulham came into the contest slowly with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian combining effectively in the engine room, but the early danger from the visitors was minimal. Raúl Jiménez shot tamely at Jordon Pickford when set up in the box by his teammate and sent a set-piece from a dangerous position directly at the defensive barrier. And that was it.

Everton, inspired by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a another strike disallowed for an infringement when Leno saved a Keane header and James Tarkowski fired home the rebound. The skipper had just strayed beyond the last defender when nodding down the winger's cross in the build-up. But Everton’s next effort past Leno did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko floated a lovely cross to the far post when left unmarked on the left flank by the youngster. The defender connected with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though the midfielder mishit the rebound, his teammate the scorer converted from close range. The relief inside the ground was evident.

The home side had a further effort disallowed after the restart after Dewsbury-Hall scored from a further excellent delivery from the left. The attacker had laid off the ball into Barry, who was offside when competing with the Fulham defender for the ball that reached the home player. Everton would have to wait until the closing stages for the security of a second goal. The provider was the architect with a set-piece that Keane directed over the goalkeeper. He scored with the back of his shoulder, and Fulham’s appeals for handball were rejected by VAR.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat following the introductions of Josh King, the Brazilian and the winger. Pickford made a fine stop with his feet to prevent Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and stopped the speedster with another important stop late on.