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The Everton manager had made clear before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for scoring goals must not rest only on his side's strikers. “I expect more goals from my defenders and central players as well,” he declared. The Senegalese midfielder and Michael Keane responded perfectly, securing a merited victory over the opposition's toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine outings was largely untroubled as the visitors highlighted the reason their leading scorer this season is goals gifted by opponents. Aside from a brief flurry in the second half, the away side were subdued throughout by the home team's greater urgency and technical ability. The Blues had three goals ruled out for offside, but a close-range strike from the midfielder in added time before the break and the defender's second-half header made sure there would be no comeback for the former Everton manager.

No player was more in need of scoring as much as the young striker, the Everton attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his big-money move from Villarreal and missed a gilt-edged chance to put his team 2-0 up at Sunderland on Monday. The youngster directed the earliest chance of the game over Bernd Leno’s crossbar when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

The home side controlled the early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper tipped over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, awarded after Sasa Lukic was booked for fouling the Everton midfielder. Lukic brought down the identical opponent again before halftime but the official, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored home protests for a second yellow. The Fulham boss was taking no further chances, however, and substituted 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 Gueye. But the elation of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was offside when going for the delivery, and failing to connect, and the VAR supported the original call. Barry’s misfortune may have continued in the final third, but his overall display justified the manager's choice to stick with him. His runs and effort kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to Everton the upper hand throughout.

Fulham came into the contest gradually with the Norwegian and the former Everton midfielder the Nigerian working well in the engine room, but the first half threat from the away team was limited. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at the England keeper when teed up inside the area by his teammate and put a free-kick from a dangerous position straight into the defensive barrier. That summed up their attacking output.

The Blues, driven on by the midfielder and the forward, had a second goal chalked off for offside when the Fulham goalkeeper parried a Keane header and the captain fired home the loose ball. The skipper had moved offside when heading on the winger's cross in the build-up. But Everton’s third attempt beating Leno did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a perfect ball to the back post when found in space on the left flank by the youngster. The defender met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though the midfielder fluffed his lines, his teammate the scorer converted from point-blank. The sense of release inside Hill Dickinson Stadium was evident.

Everton had a further effort disallowed early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall scored from a further excellent Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was in an offside position when competing with Joachim Anderson for the touch that reached the home player. The team would have to be patient until the 81st minute for the comfort of a two-goal lead. The provider was the creator with a corner that the defender directed past Leno. He scored with the upper body, and the visitors' protests for handball were rejected by the video official.

Silva’s side posed more danger following the substitutions of the forward, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper saved well with his feet to prevent the substitute finding the net with his first touch and denied Traoré with a crucial save in the dying moments.