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David Moyes had stressed before the match against Fulham that the onus for finding the back of the net must not fall solely on the team's strikers. “I demand more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender rose to the occasion, securing a merited victory over Marco Silva’s toothless team.

Everton’s second victory in nine matches was largely untroubled as the visitors demonstrated the reason their top marksman this season is goals gifted by opponents. Aside from a brief flurry in the latter period, the visitors were contained throughout by Everton’s superior intensity and quality. The Blues had three goals disallowed for infringements, but a poacher’s finish from the midfielder in first-half stoppage time and the defender's second-half header made sure there would be no comeback for the former Everton manager.

No player was more in need of scoring more than Thierno Barry, the Goodison Park attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival from the Spanish side and missed a gilt-edged chance to put his team 2-0 up at Sunderland earlier in the week. The youngster headed the earliest chance of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s goal frame when picked out by his teammate's fine cross.

The home side dominated the early exchanges and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, awarded after Sasa Lukic was booked for hauling down the Everton midfielder. The Serbian brought down the same player later in the half but the referee, the man in charge, correctly waved away Everton appeals for a sending off. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, however, and substituted the player at the interval.

Barry believed his luck had finally turned when sliding in at the back post to turn in a drilled pass by his teammate. But the elation of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was offside when attacking 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 the manager's choice to keep the faith. His movement and work-rate kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to Everton the edge all game.

The Londoners grew into the game slowly with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian combining effectively in midfield, but the first half threat from the visitors was minimal. The Mexican striker fired weakly at the England keeper when teed up in the box by Iwobi and put a set-piece from a promising location straight into the defensive barrier. And that was it.

Everton, inspired by Dewsbury-Hall and the forward, had a another strike chalked off for offside when Leno saved a effort from Keane and the captain volleyed in the loose ball. The home captain had just strayed offside when heading on Jack Grealish’s cross in the build-up. But the team's third attempt past the keeper counted. The left-back floated a lovely cross to the far post when found in space on the left flank by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though the midfielder mishit the rebound, his midfield partner the scorer finished from point-blank. The sense of release inside the ground was palpable.

The home side had a third goal disallowed early in the second half after the playmaker scored from another inviting Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into Barry, who was in an offside position when challenging the Fulham defender for the ball that fell to the home player. Everton would have to wait until the 81st minute for the security of a two-goal lead. The provider was the architect with a corner that the defender glanced past the goalkeeper. He did so with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Fulham carried more of a threat following the substitutions of the forward, the Brazilian and the winger. The Everton keeper saved well with his feet to deny the substitute finding the net with his first touch and stopped the speedster with another important stop late on.