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David Moyes had made clear before the match against Fulham that the onus for scoring goals must not rest only on the team's forwards. “I want more goals from my defenders and central players as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender responded perfectly, securing a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective team.

Everton’s second win in nine outings was relatively comfortable as Fulham highlighted why their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a short spell in the latter period, the visitors were kept quiet throughout by the home team's greater urgency and technical ability. Moyes’ team had three efforts disallowed for offside, but a close-range strike from the midfielder in added time before the break and the defender's late conversion ensured there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No one was more in need of scoring more than Thierno Barry, the Everton attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his £27m summer arrival from the Spanish side and missed a clear opportunity to put his team two goals ahead at Sunderland on Monday. The 23-year-old directed the first opportunity of the game wide of the Fulham keeper's crossbar when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

Everton dominated the early exchanges and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, awarded after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for fouling the Everton midfielder. Lukic brought down the identical opponent again before halftime but the referee, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a second yellow. Silva was taking no further chances, however, and substituted the player at the break.

Barry believed his luck had changed at last when arriving at the back post to turn in a low cross by his teammate. But the elation of a first Everton goal was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was offside when attacking the delivery, and missing, and the video assistant referee backed up the original call. Barry’s misfortune may have continued in the final third, but his all-round performance validated the manager's choice to stick with him. His runs and effort occupied the opposition's back line and helped give Everton the upper hand throughout.

The Londoners grew into the game slowly with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player Alex Iwobi combining effectively in midfield, but the first half threat from the away team was minimal. Raúl Jiménez shot tamely at the England keeper when set up inside the area by Iwobi and put a free-kick from a promising location straight into the Everton wall. And that was it.

Everton, inspired by the midfielder and Ndiaye, had a another strike chalked off for offside when Leno saved a Keane header and the captain volleyed in the loose ball. The home captain had moved offside when nodding down Jack Grealish’s delivery in the buildup. But the team's next effort past the keeper counted. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a perfect ball to the far post when left unmarked on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. Tarkowski met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his midfield partner the scorer converted from close range. 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 another inviting Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into Barry, who was offside when competing with Joachim Anderson for the ball that fell to the home player. The team would have to wait until the closing stages for the security of a two-goal lead. Dewsbury-Hall was the architect with a set-piece that Keane glanced over the goalkeeper. He scored with the back of his shoulder, and Fulham’s appeals for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Fulham posed more danger following the introductions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. Pickford made a fine stop with his legs to prevent the substitute finding the net with his first touch and stopped the speedster with another important stop in the dying moments.