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The Everton manager had stressed before the match against Fulham that the onus for finding the back of the net must not rest only on his side's strikers. “I demand more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he insisted. Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane duly obliged, delivering a merited victory over the opposition's toothless side.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine outings was relatively comfortable as Fulham demonstrated why their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a brief flurry in the latter period, the visitors were contained all match by the home team's greater urgency and technical ability. The Blues had three goals disallowed for offside, but a poacher’s finish from the midfielder in first-half stoppage time and the defender's second-half header ensured there would be no reprieve for their ex-coach.

No one was more in need of scoring more than Thierno Barry, the Goodison Park forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival from Villarreal and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light on Monday. The 23-year-old headed the first opportunity of the game wide of the Fulham keeper's goal frame when picked out by his teammate's fine cross.

The home side dominated the early exchanges and the Fulham goalkeeper pushed over James Garner’s 30-yard free-kick, awarded after the Fulham player was booked for fouling the Everton midfielder. The Serbian tripped the identical opponent later in the half but the referee, Andrew Madley, correctly waved away home protests for a second yellow. Silva was not risking anything, though, and withdrew the midfielder at the interval.

Barry believed 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 first Everton goal was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was offside when going for the delivery, and missing, and the VAR backed up the original call. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in the final third, but his all-round performance justified Moyes’ decision to stick with him. His movement and effort occupied Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to the hosts the edge throughout.

Fulham grew into the game gradually with the Norwegian and the former Everton midfielder the Nigerian working well in midfield, but the first half threat from the visitors was limited. Raúl Jiménez shot tamely at Jordon Pickford when set up inside the area by his teammate and put a free-kick from a promising location straight into the Everton wall. That summed up their attacking output.

Everton, driven on by the midfielder and Ndiaye, had a another strike disallowed for an infringement when the Fulham goalkeeper parried a effort from Keane and James Tarkowski fired home the loose ball. The skipper had just strayed beyond the last defender when nodding down Jack Grealish’s delivery in the buildup. But Everton’s next effort beating Leno did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko floated a perfect ball to the back post when found in space on the left by the youngster. The defender met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though the midfielder fluffed his lines, his teammate Gueye finished from point-blank. The sense of release inside the ground was palpable.

Everton had a further effort ruled out after the restart after Dewsbury-Hall scored from another inviting delivery from the left. The attacker had laid off the ball into the striker, who was in an offside position when competing with Joachim Anderson for the touch that fell to the home player. Everton would have to wait until the 81st minute for the comfort of a two-goal lead. Dewsbury-Hall was the architect with a set-piece that Keane glanced past the goalkeeper. He scored with the back of his shoulder, and Fulham’s appeals for a handball were rejected by VAR.

Fulham carried more of a threat following the substitutions of Josh King, the Brazilian and the winger. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his legs to deny Muniz finding the net with his initial involvement and denied Traoré with a crucial save late on.