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The Everton manager had made clear before the match against Fulham that the responsibility for finding the back of the net must not fall solely on his side's strikers. “I expect more goals from my centre-halves and midfielders as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender responded perfectly, delivering a merited victory over Marco Silva’s toothless side.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine outings was relatively comfortable as the visitors demonstrated the reason their leading scorer this season is goals gifted by opponents. Aside from a brief flurry in the latter period, the away side were subdued throughout by Everton’s greater urgency and technical ability. Moyes’ team had three efforts disallowed for infringements, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and the defender's second-half header ensured there would be no comeback for their ex-coach.

No player was more in need of scoring as much as the young striker, the Goodison Park forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his big-money move from the Spanish side and missed a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. The 23-year-old headed the earliest chance of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s goal frame when found by his teammate's excellent delivery.

Everton controlled the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, given after Sasa Lukic was booked for fouling the Everton midfielder. Lukic brought down the identical opponent later in the half but the referee, the man in charge, correctly waved away home protests for a second yellow. Silva was taking no further chances, though, and withdrew the player at the break.

The striker thought his luck had changed at last when sliding in at the far post to turn in a drilled pass by his teammate. But the elation of a first Everton goal was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was in an illegal position when going for Gueye’s cross, and missing, and the video assistant referee backed up the on-field decision. The forward's bad luck may have continued in the final third, but his overall display justified Moyes’ decision to keep the faith. His movement and effort kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and helped give the hosts the edge throughout.

Fulham came into the contest slowly with Sander Berge and the former Everton midfielder the Nigerian combining effectively in the engine room, but the first half threat from the away team was minimal. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at the England keeper when set up in the box by his teammate and sent a set-piece from a dangerous position directly at the defensive barrier. And that was it.

The Blues, inspired by the midfielder and the forward, had a another strike disallowed for an infringement when Leno saved a effort from Keane and the captain fired home the rebound. The skipper had moved beyond the last defender when nodding down Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But the team's third attempt past the keeper did stand. The left-back floated a lovely cross to the back post when found in space on the left by the youngster. Tarkowski met it with a thumping header against the bar and, though Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his midfield partner Gueye finished from point-blank. The sense of release inside Hill Dickinson Stadium 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 laid off the delivery into Barry, who was in an offside position when challenging the Fulham defender for the touch that reached the Everton midfielder. Everton would have to wait until the 81st minute for the security of a second goal. The provider was the architect with a set-piece that the defender glanced past Leno. He scored with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for handball were rejected by VAR.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat after the introductions of Josh King, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. Pickford made a fine stop with his legs to deny Muniz scoring with his initial involvement and denied the speedster with a crucial save late on.