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David Moyes had made clear before Fulham's visit that the onus for finding the back of the net should not rest only on his side's forwards. “I want more goals from my defenders and central players as well,” he insisted. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender rose to the occasion, delivering a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s toothless team.

Everton’s second victory in nine outings was largely untroubled as Fulham demonstrated the reason their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a brief flurry in the second half, the visitors were kept quiet throughout by the home team's greater urgency and technical ability. The Blues had three goals ruled out for infringements, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and the defender's second-half header made sure there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No one needed a goal more than the young striker, the Everton attacker who had failed to register a shot on target in 10 league games without a shot on target after his big-money move from Villarreal and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light on Monday. The youngster headed the first opportunity of the game over the Fulham keeper's goal frame when picked out by his teammate's fine cross.

The home side controlled the early exchanges and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over James Garner’s long-range set-piece, awarded after the Fulham player was yellow-carded for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the same player again before halftime but the official, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored home protests for a sending off. Silva was not risking anything, though, and withdrew the player at the interval.

Barry thought his luck had changed at last when arriving at the far post to turn in a low cross by his teammate. But the joy of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when attacking Gueye’s cross, and missing, and the video assistant referee backed up the original call. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in front of goal, but his all-round performance justified Moyes’ decision to stick with him. His runs and work-rate kept busy the opposition's back line and helped give the hosts the edge throughout.

Fulham came into the contest gradually with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian working well in the engine room, but the first half threat from the visitors was limited. The Mexican striker shot tamely at the England keeper when set up inside the area by his teammate and put a set-piece from a promising location directly at the defensive barrier. That summed up their attacking output.

The Blues, inspired by Dewsbury-Hall and the forward, had a another strike chalked off for an infringement when Leno saved a Keane header and James Tarkowski volleyed in the rebound. The skipper had moved offside when nodding down the winger's delivery in the buildup. But Everton’s third attempt beating the keeper counted. The left-back floated a perfect ball to the far post when left unmarked on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a powerful nod off the crossbar and, though the midfielder mishit the rebound, his midfield partner the scorer finished from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was palpable.

The home side had a third goal ruled out after the restart after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from another inviting delivery from the left. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into Barry, who was offside when challenging Joachim Anderson for the touch that fell to the Everton midfielder. Everton would have to wait until the closing stages for the comfort of a two-goal lead. The provider was the creator with a set-piece that the defender glanced over the goalkeeper. He did so with the upper body, and the visitors' protests for a handball were rejected by the video official.

Fulham posed more danger after the substitutions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and the winger. The Everton keeper saved well with his legs to prevent the substitute scoring with his first touch and stopped the speedster with another important stop late on.