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David Moyes had stressed before Fulham's visit that the onus for finding the back of the net should not rest only on the team's forwards. “I expect more goals from my defenders 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.

Everton’s second win in nine matches was relatively comfortable as Fulham showed why their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a brief flurry in the second half, the visitors were contained throughout by Everton’s superior intensity and quality. The Blues had three goals ruled out for offside, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and the defender's late conversion made sure there would be no reprieve for their ex-coach.

No one needed a goal more than the young striker, the Goodison Park attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his big-money move from Villarreal and spurned a gilt-edged chance to put his team two goals ahead at the Stadium of Light on Monday. The 23-year-old directed the first opportunity of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s goal frame when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

Everton controlled the early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper pushed over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, given after the Fulham player was booked for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The Serbian brought down the same player again before halftime but the referee, the man in charge, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a sending off. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, however, and withdrew the midfielder at the break.

The striker believed his luck had finally turned when arriving at the back post to convert a drilled pass 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 Gueye’s cross, and failing to connect, and the video assistant referee backed up the original call. Barry’s misfortune may have persisted in front of goal, but his overall display validated the manager's choice to keep the faith. His movement and work-rate kept busy the opposition's back line and helped give Everton the upper hand throughout.

Fulham 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 visitors was limited. The Mexican striker fired weakly at Jordon Pickford when set up in the box by Iwobi and sent a free-kick from a promising location straight into the Everton wall. And that was it.

Everton, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a second goal disallowed for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper parried a Keane header and the captain fired home the loose ball. The skipper had moved beyond the last defender when nodding down the winger's delivery in the build-up. But Everton’s next effort beating Leno counted. Vitalii Mykolenko floated a perfect ball to the back post when left unmarked on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a thumping header against the bar and, though the midfielder mishit the rebound, his teammate the scorer finished from close range. The relief inside the ground was palpable.

The home side had a further effort disallowed after the restart after the playmaker scored from another inviting Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was in an offside position when competing with the Fulham defender for the touch that fell to the home player. The team would have to wait until the 81st minute for the comfort of a two-goal lead. The provider was the architect with a corner that the defender glanced over Leno. He did so with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for a handball were rejected by the video official.

Fulham posed more danger following the introductions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and the winger. The Everton keeper saved well with his legs to deny the substitute scoring with his initial involvement and stopped Traoré with a crucial save in the dying moments.