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The Everton manager had made clear before the match against Fulham that the onus for scoring goals should not rest only on his side's strikers. “I want more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he stated. Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane duly obliged, delivering a merited victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective side.

Everton’s second win in nine outings was fairly straightforward as the visitors showed the reason their leading scorer this season is goals gifted by opponents. Aside from a brief flurry in the second half, the away side were subdued all match by Everton’s greater urgency and technical ability. The Blues had three goals disallowed for infringements, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s late conversion ensured there would be no comeback for the former Everton manager.

No one needed a goal as much as Thierno Barry, the Everton attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival from the Spanish side and spurned a gilt-edged chance to put his team two goals ahead at Sunderland earlier in the week. The 23-year-old directed the earliest chance of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s crossbar when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

Everton controlled the early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper tipped over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, awarded after the Fulham player was booked for fouling the Everton midfielder. Lukic brought down the identical opponent again before halftime but the official, the man in charge, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a sending off. Silva was taking no further chances, though, and withdrew the midfielder at the interval.

Barry believed his luck had changed at last when sliding in at the back post to convert a drilled pass by his teammate. But the elation of a maiden strike was wiped out by an linesman's decision. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when going for the delivery, and missing, and the VAR backed up the on-field decision. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in the final third, but his overall display validated Moyes’ decision to keep the faith. His movement and effort occupied Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to Everton the upper hand all game.

The Londoners came into the contest gradually with the Norwegian and the former Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi working well in the engine room, but the first half threat from the away team was minimal. The Mexican striker fired weakly at Jordon Pickford when set up inside the area by Iwobi and sent a set-piece from a promising location straight into the Everton wall. That summed up their attacking output.

Everton, driven on by the midfielder and Ndiaye, had a second goal chalked off for offside when the Fulham goalkeeper parried a Keane header and James Tarkowski volleyed in the rebound. The home captain had moved offside when heading on Jack Grealish’s cross in the build-up. But Everton’s third attempt beating Leno did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a perfect ball to the back post when left unmarked on the left flank by the youngster. Tarkowski met it with a thumping header against the bar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his teammate Gueye converted from close range. The sense of release inside the ground was evident.

The home side had a further effort ruled out after the restart after Dewsbury-Hall scored from a further excellent delivery from the left. Ndiaye had laid off the ball into the striker, who was offside when competing with Joachim Anderson for the ball that fell to the Everton midfielder. The team would have to wait until the closing stages for the comfort of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a corner that the defender glanced past the goalkeeper. He did so with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for handball were rejected by the video official.

Fulham posed more danger following the substitutions of the forward, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his legs to deny the substitute finding the net with his initial involvement and stopped the speedster with a crucial save late on.