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David Moyes had stressed before the match against Fulham that the responsibility for finding the back of the net should not rest only on the team's forwards. “I expect more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he stated. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender responded perfectly, earning a well-earned victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective side.

Everton’s second victory in nine outings was relatively comfortable as the visitors highlighted why their leading scorer this season is goals gifted by opponents. Apart from a short spell in the second half, the visitors were kept quiet throughout by the home team's superior intensity and quality. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for offside, but a close-range strike from the midfielder in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s second-half header made sure there would be no comeback for the former Everton manager.

No player was more in need of scoring as much as the young striker, the Goodison Park attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival from Villarreal and missed a clear opportunity to put his team two goals ahead at the Stadium of Light on Monday. The 23-year-old directed the earliest chance of the game over Bernd Leno’s crossbar when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

Everton controlled the early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper tipped over James Garner’s 30-yard free-kick, given after the Fulham player was yellow-carded for hauling down the Everton midfielder. Lukic 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 withdrew the player at the interval.

Barry believed his luck had changed at last when arriving at the back post to turn in a drilled pass by his teammate. But the elation of a first Everton goal was erased by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was offside when attacking Gueye’s cross, and failing to connect, and the video assistant referee supported the original call. The forward's bad luck may have continued in front of goal, but his overall display justified the manager's choice to keep the faith. His movement and work-rate kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and helped give Everton the edge throughout.

Fulham came into the contest slowly with the Norwegian and the ex-Goodison player Alex Iwobi working well in midfield, but the first half threat from the visitors was limited. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at the England keeper when set up in the box by Iwobi and sent a set-piece from a promising location directly at the Everton wall. That summed up their attacking output.

The Blues, inspired by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a second goal chalked off for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a Keane header and James Tarkowski fired home the rebound. The skipper had just strayed offside when nodding down Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But Everton’s third attempt beating Leno counted. The left-back floated a lovely cross to the far post when left unmarked on the left flank by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a powerful nod off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his midfield partner Gueye finished from point-blank. The sense of release inside Hill Dickinson Stadium was palpable.

The home side had a third goal ruled out after the restart after the playmaker scored from a further excellent delivery from the left. Ndiaye had cushioned the delivery into the striker, who was in an offside position when challenging Joachim Anderson for the ball that fell to the home player. The team would have to wait until the closing stages for the comfort of a two-goal lead. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a corner that the defender directed past the goalkeeper. He scored with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for a handball were rejected by VAR.

Fulham posed more danger after the introductions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. Pickford saved well with his legs to deny Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and stopped the speedster with a crucial save in the dying moments.