Idrissa Gueye along with Keane find the net as Everton sink Fulham

David Moyes had emphasized before the match against Fulham that the responsibility for finding the back of the net must not fall solely on his side's forwards. “I expect more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he insisted. The Senegalese midfielder and Michael Keane duly obliged, securing a merited victory over the opposition's toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine outings was fairly straightforward as the visitors showed the reason their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a short spell in the latter period, the away side were kept quiet throughout by Everton’s greater urgency and technical ability. Moyes’ team had three efforts ruled out for infringements, 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 player was more in need of scoring as much as Thierno Barry, the Everton attacker 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 two goals ahead at Sunderland earlier in the week. The 23-year-old headed the first opportunity of the game over Bernd Leno’s goal frame when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

The home side controlled the early exchanges and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, given after the Fulham player was yellow-carded for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The Serbian brought down the identical opponent again before halftime but the official, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a sending off. Silva was taking no further chances, however, and substituted the player at the break.

Barry believed his luck had finally turned when arriving at the far post to convert a drilled pass by his teammate. But the joy of a first Everton goal was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when going for the delivery, and failing to connect, 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 justified the manager's choice to stick with him. His movement and work-rate kept busy the opposition's back line and contributed to Everton the upper hand throughout.

Fulham came into the contest slowly with the Norwegian and the former Everton midfielder the Nigerian working well in the engine room, but the early danger from the away team was limited. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at Jordon Pickford when teed up in the box by his teammate and put a set-piece from a dangerous position straight into the Everton wall. And that was it.

The Blues, inspired by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a second goal disallowed for offside when Leno saved a effort from Keane and the captain volleyed in the loose ball. The skipper had moved offside when heading on Jack Grealish’s cross in the buildup. But the team's third attempt beating the keeper did stand. The left-back delivered a perfect ball to the back post when left unmarked on the left flank by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though the midfielder fluffed his lines, his midfield partner Gueye finished from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was palpable.

Everton had a third goal ruled out early in the second half after the playmaker found the bottom corner from another inviting Mykolenko cross. The attacker had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was offside when competing with Joachim Anderson for the touch that fell to the Everton midfielder. The team would have to be patient until the 81st minute for the security of a two-goal lead. The provider was the architect with a corner that the defender glanced past Leno. He scored with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for a handball were dismissed by the video official.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat after the substitutions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and the winger. The Everton keeper saved well with his feet to deny Muniz finding the net with his initial involvement and stopped Traoré with another important stop late on.