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David Moyes had made clear before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for scoring goals must not fall solely on the team's forwards. “I expect more goals from my centre-halves and midfielders as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender rose to the occasion, earning a merited victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective side.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine outings was relatively comfortable as the visitors demonstrated the reason their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a brief flurry in the latter period, the visitors were contained throughout by the home team's greater urgency and technical ability. The Blues had three goals disallowed for offside, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s second-half header ensured there would be no comeback for their ex-coach.

No one needed a goal as much as Thierno Barry, the Everton attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his big-money move from Villarreal and missed a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. The youngster headed the first opportunity of the game wide of the Fulham keeper's goal frame when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

Everton dominated the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, awarded after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for fouling the Everton midfielder. The Serbian tripped the identical opponent again before halftime but the official, Andrew Madley, correctly waved away home protests for a sending off. Silva was not risking anything, however, and substituted the player at the break.

Barry believed his fortune 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. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when going for Gueye’s cross, and failing to connect, and the VAR supported the original call. Barry’s misfortune may have persisted in front of goal, but his all-round performance justified the manager's choice to stick with him. His runs and work-rate kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to the hosts the edge throughout.

Fulham grew into the game slowly with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player Alex Iwobi working well in midfield, but the first half threat from the visitors was minimal. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at the England keeper when set up in the box by Iwobi and put a set-piece from a promising location straight into the defensive barrier. That summed up their attacking output.

The Blues, driven on by the midfielder and the forward, had a another strike disallowed for an infringement when Leno parried a effort from Keane and the captain fired home the rebound. The home captain had just strayed offside when nodding down Jack Grealish’s cross in the buildup. But the team's third attempt beating the keeper did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a lovely cross to the far post when found in space on the left by the youngster. The defender met it with a powerful nod against the bar and, though Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his teammate the scorer converted from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was palpable.

Everton had a third goal ruled out early in the second half after the playmaker found the bottom corner from another inviting Mykolenko cross. The attacker had cushioned the delivery into the striker, who was offside when challenging the Fulham defender for the touch that fell to the Everton midfielder. Everton would have to be patient until the closing stages for the comfort of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the architect with a corner that the defender directed past Leno. He did so with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat after the substitutions of Josh King, the Brazilian and the winger. Pickford saved well with his legs to deny Muniz finding the net with his initial involvement and stopped the speedster with another important stop in the dying moments.