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David Moyes had made clear before Fulham's visit that the onus for scoring goals should not fall solely on the team's forwards. “I demand more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he stated. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender responded perfectly, securing a merited victory over the opposition's toothless side.

Everton’s second win in nine outings was relatively comfortable as the visitors demonstrated why their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a short spell in the second half, the visitors were kept quiet throughout by the home team's superior intensity and technical ability. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for offside, but a close-range strike from the midfielder in added time before the break and Keane’s late conversion ensured there would be no comeback for their ex-coach.

No one needed a goal as much as the young striker, the Everton attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his big-money move from the Spanish side and missed a gilt-edged chance to put his team two goals ahead at the Stadium of Light on Monday. The 23-year-old headed the earliest chance of the game over Bernd Leno’s goal frame when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

The home side controlled the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over James Garner’s long-range set-piece, awarded after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The Serbian tripped the identical opponent again before halftime but the referee, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored home protests for a second yellow. 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 convert a drilled pass by his teammate. But the elation of a maiden strike was erased by an linesman's decision. Ndiaye was offside when going for the delivery, and failing to connect, and the VAR backed up the original call. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in front of goal, but his overall display validated the manager's choice to keep the faith. His movement and work-rate kept busy the opposition's back line and contributed to Everton the upper hand all game.

The Londoners grew into the game slowly with Sander Berge and the former Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi working well in midfield, but the early danger from the visitors was limited. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at the England keeper when set up in the box by his teammate and sent a set-piece from a promising location directly at the defensive barrier. And that was it.

Everton, driven on by the midfielder and Ndiaye, had a second goal chalked off for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a effort from Keane and James Tarkowski fired home the rebound. The home captain had just strayed beyond the last defender when nodding down the winger's delivery in the build-up. But the team's third attempt beating Leno counted. 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 powerful nod against the bar and, though the midfielder mishit the rebound, his teammate the scorer finished from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was evident.

Everton had a further effort ruled out early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from another inviting delivery from the left. Ndiaye had cushioned the delivery into the striker, who was in an offside position when challenging the Fulham defender for the touch that reached the home player. The team would have to be patient until the 81st minute for the security of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the architect with a set-piece that Keane glanced over Leno. He did so with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for a handball were dismissed by the video official.

Fulham carried more of a threat following the substitutions of Josh King, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his feet to deny the substitute finding the net with his first touch and denied the speedster with a crucial save in the dying moments.