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David Moyes had stressed before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for finding the back of the net must not rest only on the team's strikers. “I demand more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he insisted. The Senegalese midfielder and Michael Keane duly obliged, securing a merited victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective team.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine matches was relatively comfortable as Fulham highlighted why their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. 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 infringements, but a close-range strike from the midfielder in added time before the break and Keane’s second-half header made sure there would be no comeback for their ex-coach.

No player was more in need of scoring more than Thierno Barry, the Goodison Park attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his £27m summer arrival from the Spanish side and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at Sunderland on Monday. The youngster directed the earliest chance of the game over the Fulham keeper's goal frame when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

Everton dominated the opening stages and the visiting shot-stopper pushed over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, awarded after Sasa Lukic was booked for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The Serbian tripped the identical opponent again before halftime but the referee, Andrew Madley, correctly waved away home protests for a sending off. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, however, and withdrew the player at the break.

The striker believed his luck had changed at last when sliding in at the back post to convert a low cross by his teammate. But the elation of a first Everton goal was wiped out by an linesman's decision. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when going for the delivery, and failing to connect, and the video assistant referee supported the original call. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in front of goal, but his all-round performance validated Moyes’ decision to stick with him. His movement and effort occupied the opposition's back line and contributed to Everton the upper hand throughout.

Fulham came into the contest slowly with Sander Berge and the former Everton midfielder the Nigerian combining effectively in midfield, but the early danger from the visitors was minimal. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at Jordon Pickford when teed up in the box by Iwobi and sent a free-kick from a dangerous position straight into the Everton wall. That summed up their attacking output.

Everton, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a another strike disallowed for offside when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a effort from Keane and James Tarkowski fired home the loose ball. The skipper had moved offside when nodding down the winger's delivery in the build-up. But the team's next effort beating Leno did stand. The left-back floated a perfect ball to the back post when left unmarked on the left by the youngster. The defender met it with a thumping header against the bar and, though Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his midfield partner Gueye converted from close range. The relief inside the ground was evident.

Everton had a third goal ruled out after the restart after the playmaker found the bottom corner from a further excellent Mykolenko cross. The attacker had cushioned the delivery into the striker, who was in an offside position when competing with the Fulham defender for the touch that reached the Everton midfielder. Everton would have to wait until the closing stages for the security of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a corner that Keane directed over Leno. He scored with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Silva’s side posed more danger after the introductions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and the winger. 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 another important stop in the dying moments.