Idrissa Gueye and Keane find the net as Everton sink Fulham

The Everton manager had emphasized before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for finding the back of the net must not fall solely on the team's strikers. “I want more goals from my defenders and central players as well,” he declared. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender rose to the occasion, delivering a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective team.

Everton’s second victory in nine outings was fairly straightforward as the visitors highlighted the reason their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a brief flurry in the second half, the away side were kept quiet all match by the home team's greater urgency and quality. Moyes’ team had three efforts disallowed for infringements, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s second-half header made sure there would be no reprieve for their ex-coach.

No one needed a goal as much as the young striker, the Goodison Park forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival from the Spanish side and missed a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at Sunderland earlier in the week. The youngster directed the first opportunity of the game over Bernd Leno’s goal frame when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

Everton controlled the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over James Garner’s long-range set-piece, given after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for hauling down the Everton midfielder. The Serbian tripped the identical opponent again before halftime but the referee, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a second yellow. Silva was not risking anything, however, and substituted the midfielder at the interval.

Barry believed his luck had changed at last when arriving at the far post to convert a low cross by his teammate. But the elation of a maiden strike was erased by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when attacking the delivery, and missing, and the VAR backed up the original call. Barry’s misfortune may have persisted in front of goal, but his all-round performance validated the manager's choice to keep the faith. His movement and work-rate kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to the hosts the edge all game.

The Londoners came into the contest slowly with the Norwegian and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian working well in the engine room, but the early danger from the visitors was limited. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at the England keeper when teed up inside the area by his teammate and sent a set-piece from a promising location straight into the Everton wall. That summed up their attacking output.

Everton, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a second goal disallowed for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a Keane header and James Tarkowski volleyed in the loose ball. The skipper had just strayed offside when nodding down Jack Grealish’s cross in the buildup. But Everton’s next effort beating the keeper did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko floated a lovely cross to the far post when left unmarked on the left flank by Tim Iroegbunam. Tarkowski met it with a thumping header against the bar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his midfield partner the scorer finished from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was evident.

Everton had a further effort 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 Joachim Anderson for the touch that reached the home player. Everton would have to wait until the closing stages for the security of a two-goal lead. The provider was the creator with a corner that the defender directed past the goalkeeper. He scored with the upper body, and the visitors' protests for a handball were dismissed by the video official.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat following the substitutions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper saved well with his feet to prevent Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and denied the speedster with another important stop late on.