🔗 Share this article

The Everton manager had stressed before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for scoring goals must not rest only on his side's forwards. “I want more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and Michael Keane responded perfectly, securing a well-earned victory over the opposition's ineffective team.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine outings was fairly straightforward as the visitors demonstrated the reason their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a brief flurry in the latter period, the away side were kept quiet all match by Everton’s superior intensity and technical ability. The Blues had three efforts disallowed for offside, but a close-range strike from Gueye in added time before the break and the defender's late conversion made sure there would be no comeback for their ex-coach.

No one was more in need of scoring as much as Thierno Barry, the Everton forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his big-money move from the Spanish side and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team two goals ahead at Sunderland earlier in the week. The 23-year-old directed the first opportunity of the game over the Fulham keeper's crossbar when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

Everton dominated the early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper pushed over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, awarded after Sasa Lukic was booked for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the identical opponent later in the half but the official, the man in charge, correctly waved away Everton appeals for a sending off. Silva was not risking anything, though, and substituted the midfielder at the break.

Barry believed his luck had changed at last when sliding in at the far post to convert a drilled pass by his teammate. But the joy of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was in an illegal position when attacking the delivery, and missing, and the video assistant referee backed up the original call. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in the final third, but his all-round performance validated Moyes’ decision to keep the faith. His movement and effort kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and helped give Everton the edge all game.

The Londoners came into the contest gradually with the Norwegian and the ex-Goodison player Alex Iwobi combining effectively in the engine room, but the early danger from the away team was limited. The Mexican striker fired weakly at Jordon Pickford when teed up in the box by Iwobi and sent a set-piece from a promising location straight into the Everton wall. And that was it.

The Blues, inspired by the midfielder and the forward, had a another strike chalked off for offside when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a Keane header and the captain fired home the rebound. The home captain had just strayed beyond the last defender when heading on the winger's cross in the build-up. But the team's third attempt past Leno counted. Vitalii Mykolenko 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 Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his teammate the scorer finished from point-blank. The relief inside the ground was palpable.

Everton had a third goal ruled out early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from a further excellent delivery from the left. Ndiaye had cushioned the ball into the striker, who was in an offside position when challenging the Fulham defender for the touch that reached the home player. Everton would have to be patient until the closing stages for the comfort of a two-goal lead. Dewsbury-Hall was the architect with a set-piece that Keane glanced past Leno. He scored with the upper body, and the visitors' protests for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Fulham posed more danger following the introductions of the forward, Rodrigo Muniz and the winger. Pickford made a fine stop with his feet to deny Muniz scoring with his first touch and denied the speedster with another important stop late on.