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The Everton manager had stressed before the match against Fulham that the onus for scoring goals should not rest only on the team's forwards. “I demand more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender rose to the occasion, delivering a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine matches was largely untroubled as the visitors showed the reason their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a brief flurry in the latter period, the away side were kept quiet all match by the home team's superior intensity and technical ability. Moyes’ team had three goals ruled out for offside, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in added time before the break and the defender's late conversion ensured there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No player needed a goal as much as Thierno Barry, the Goodison Park 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 spurned a gilt-edged chance to put his team two goals ahead at the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. The 23-year-old headed the earliest chance of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s goal frame when found by his teammate's excellent delivery.

Everton dominated the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, given after the Fulham player was yellow-carded for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the identical opponent again before halftime but the official, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored home protests for a sending off. Silva was not risking anything, however, and withdrew the midfielder at the break.

The striker thought his luck had changed at last when arriving at the back post to turn in a low cross by Gueye. But the joy of a first Everton goal was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was in an illegal position when attacking Gueye’s cross, and missing, and the VAR supported the original call. The forward's bad luck may have continued in the final third, but his overall display validated the manager's choice to stick with him. His movement and work-rate kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to Everton the edge throughout.

The Londoners grew into the game gradually with Sander Berge and the former Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi working well in the engine room, but the early danger from the visitors was limited. Raúl Jiménez shot tamely at the England keeper when teed up in the box by his teammate and put a set-piece from a promising location straight into the Everton wall. And that was it.

Everton, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and the forward, had a another strike chalked off for an infringement when Leno parried a effort from Keane and James Tarkowski fired home the rebound. The home captain had just strayed offside when nodding down the winger's cross in the buildup. But the team's third attempt beating Leno counted. The left-back delivered a lovely cross to the back post when left unmarked on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a powerful nod against the bar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his teammate Gueye finished from close range. The sense of release inside Hill Dickinson Stadium was palpable.

The home side had a further effort ruled out early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from another inviting Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into Barry, who was in an offside position when competing with Joachim Anderson for the touch that fell to the home player. Everton would have to be patient until the closing stages for the comfort of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the architect with a set-piece that Keane glanced over Leno. He scored with the upper body, and the visitors' protests for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat after the substitutions of the forward, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. Pickford saved well with his legs to deny Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and denied the speedster with a crucial save late on.