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David Moyes had made clear before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for scoring goals must not rest only on the team's forwards. “I want more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender rose to the occasion, earning a fully deserved victory over the opposition's toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine matches was relatively comfortable as the visitors demonstrated the reason their leading scorer this season is goals gifted by opponents. Aside from a brief flurry in the latter period, the away side were subdued throughout by Everton’s superior intensity and quality. Moyes’ team had three goals disallowed for infringements, but a poacher’s finish from the midfielder in added time before the break and the defender's late conversion ensured there would be no comeback for their ex-coach.

No one was more in need of scoring more than Thierno Barry, 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 gilt-edged chance to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light 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 visiting shot-stopper tipped over James Garner’s long-range set-piece, given after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for hauling down the Everton midfielder. Lukic brought down the identical opponent again before halftime but the official, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored home protests for a sending off. Silva was not risking anything, though, and substituted the midfielder at the interval.

Barry believed his luck had finally turned when arriving at the back post to convert a drilled pass by his teammate. But the joy of a first Everton goal was erased by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when going for Gueye’s cross, and missing, and the video assistant referee supported the on-field decision. Barry’s misfortune may have continued in the final third, but his overall display validated Moyes’ decision to keep the faith. His runs and work-rate occupied Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to the hosts the upper hand throughout.

The Londoners came into the contest gradually with the Norwegian and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian combining effectively in the engine room, but the first half threat from the visitors was limited. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at the England keeper when teed up inside the area 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 volleyed in the rebound. The skipper had moved offside when nodding down the winger's cross in the build-up. But the team's next effort beating the keeper did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko floated a lovely cross to the far post when found in space on the left flank by the youngster. The defender connected with a thumping header against the bar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his teammate Gueye converted from point-blank. The sense of release inside the ground was palpable.

The home side had a further effort ruled out after the restart after Dewsbury-Hall scored from a further excellent Mykolenko cross. The attacker had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was in an offside position when challenging Joachim Anderson for the touch that reached the home player. Everton would have to be patient until the closing stages for the comfort of a second goal. The provider was the architect with a corner that Keane glanced over Leno. He did so with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for handball were rejected by the video official.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat following the substitutions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and the winger. Pickford saved well with his feet to deny the substitute finding the net with his initial involvement and stopped Traoré with another important stop in the dying moments.