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David Moyes had made clear before Fulham's visit that the onus for finding the back of the net must not rest only on his side's strikers. “I want more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender responded perfectly, securing a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s toothless side.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine outings was relatively comfortable as Fulham showed the reason their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a short spell in the second half, the visitors were kept quiet all match by the home team's superior intensity and technical ability. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for infringements, but a close-range strike from the midfielder in added time before the break and the defender's second-half header ensured there would be no comeback for their ex-coach.

No one was more in need of scoring more than the young striker, the Everton attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his big-money move from the Spanish side and missed a gilt-edged chance to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. The 23-year-old headed the first opportunity of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s goal frame when picked out by his teammate's fine cross.

The home side dominated the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over James Garner’s 30-yard free-kick, given after Sasa Lukic was booked for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the same player again before halftime but the referee, the man in charge, correctly waved away Everton appeals for a second yellow. The Fulham boss was taking no further chances, though, and substituted the player at the interval.

The striker thought his fortune had changed at last when arriving at the far post to convert a low cross by Gueye. But the elation of a maiden strike was wiped out by an linesman's decision. The attacker was in an illegal position when attacking the delivery, and failing to connect, and the VAR backed up the original call. The forward's bad luck may have continued in front of goal, but his all-round performance justified Moyes’ decision to stick with him. His runs and effort kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and helped give Everton the upper hand all game.

Fulham came into the contest slowly with the Norwegian and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian combining effectively in the engine room, but the early danger from the away team was limited. The Mexican striker fired weakly at Jordon Pickford when set up in the box by his teammate and sent a free-kick from a dangerous position straight into the Everton wall. And that was it.

Everton, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a another strike disallowed for an infringement when Leno parried a Keane header and James Tarkowski fired home the loose ball. The home captain had moved beyond the last defender when heading on Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But Everton’s third attempt past the keeper counted. Vitalii Mykolenko floated a perfect ball to the far post when found in space on the left flank by Tim Iroegbunam. Tarkowski met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his teammate Gueye converted from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was palpable.

The home side had a third goal ruled out after the restart after the playmaker scored from another inviting Mykolenko cross. The attacker had cushioned the ball into Barry, who was offside when challenging Joachim Anderson for the touch that fell to the home player. The team would have to be patient until the closing stages for the security of a two-goal lead. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a set-piece that Keane glanced over the goalkeeper. He did so with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for handball were dismissed by VAR.

Fulham carried more of a threat following the introductions of Josh King, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. Pickford made a fine stop with his feet to prevent the substitute scoring with his first touch and stopped Traoré with another important stop in the dying moments.