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David Moyes had stressed before Fulham's visit that the onus for scoring goals should not fall solely on his side's forwards. “I expect more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he stated. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender rose to the occasion, delivering a well-earned victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective side.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine matches was relatively comfortable as Fulham demonstrated the reason their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a short spell in the latter period, the visitors were kept quiet throughout by Everton’s greater urgency and quality. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for infringements, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and the defender's late conversion ensured there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No player was more in need of scoring more than the young striker, the Everton attacker who had failed to register a shot on target in 10 league games without a shot on target after his £27m summer arrival from Villarreal and missed a gilt-edged chance to put his team two goals ahead at the Stadium of Light on Monday. The 23-year-old headed the earliest chance of the game over the Fulham keeper's goal frame when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

Everton dominated the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, given after Sasa Lukic was booked for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the same player later in the half but the official, the man in charge, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a second yellow. The Fulham boss was taking no further chances, though, and substituted the midfielder at the break.

The striker believed his luck had finally turned when arriving at the back post to convert a drilled pass by Gueye. But the joy of a maiden strike was erased by an linesman's decision. The attacker was in an illegal position 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 the final third, but his all-round performance justified Moyes’ decision to keep the faith. His runs and effort occupied the opposition's back line and contributed to Everton the upper hand all game.

Fulham came into the contest gradually with the Norwegian and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian working well in the engine room, but the early danger from the away team was limited. Raúl Jiménez shot tamely at the England keeper when teed up inside the area by Iwobi and sent a free-kick from a promising location straight into the defensive barrier. That summed up their attacking output.

The Blues, inspired by the midfielder and the forward, had a another strike disallowed for an infringement when Leno parried a Keane header and James Tarkowski volleyed in the rebound. The skipper had just strayed offside when heading on Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But the team's third attempt past Leno did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a perfect ball to the back post when found in space on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his midfield partner the scorer converted from close range. The sense of release inside Hill Dickinson Stadium was evident.

The home side had a further effort disallowed after the restart after the playmaker scored from a further excellent Mykolenko cross. The attacker had cushioned the delivery into Barry, who was offside when challenging the Fulham defender for the ball that reached the home player. The team would have to wait until the closing stages for the comfort of a second goal. The provider was the architect with a corner that Keane directed past the goalkeeper. He did so with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Silva’s side posed more danger following the introductions of the forward, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his feet to deny Muniz scoring with his first touch and stopped Traoré with another important stop late on.