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The Everton manager had emphasized before Fulham's visit that the onus for scoring goals should not rest only on his side's forwards. “I expect more goals from my defenders and central players as well,” he declared. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender rose to the occasion, earning a merited victory over the opposition's ineffective side.

The Merseyside club's second victory in nine outings was fairly straightforward as the visitors demonstrated the reason their top marksman this season is goals gifted by opponents. Aside from a short spell in the latter period, the visitors were contained all match by Everton’s greater urgency and quality. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for offside, but a close-range strike from the midfielder in first-half stoppage time and the defender's late conversion ensured there would be no reprieve for their ex-coach.

No player needed a goal more than Thierno Barry, the Goodison Park forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his £27m summer arrival from Villarreal and missed a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at Sunderland earlier in the week. The 23-year-old directed the earliest chance of the game over Bernd Leno’s goal frame when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

Everton dominated the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over James Garner’s long-range set-piece, given after the Fulham player was booked for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The Serbian brought down the identical opponent later in the half but the referee, the man in charge, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a sending off. Silva was taking no further chances, though, and withdrew the midfielder at the break.

The striker thought his luck had finally turned when arriving at the far post to turn in a drilled pass by his teammate. But the elation of a maiden strike was erased by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was offside when attacking Gueye’s cross, and failing to connect, and the video assistant referee backed up the original call. Barry’s misfortune may have continued in the final third, but his all-round performance validated the manager's choice to stick with him. His runs and work-rate kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to Everton the upper hand throughout.

Fulham grew into the game slowly with the Norwegian and the former Everton midfielder the Nigerian working well in the engine room, but the early danger from the away team was minimal. The Mexican striker shot tamely at the England keeper when set up inside the area by his teammate and sent a set-piece from a promising location straight into the defensive barrier. And that was it.

The Blues, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and the forward, had a second goal chalked off for offside when Leno parried a Keane header and James Tarkowski fired home the loose ball. The skipper had moved beyond the last defender when nodding down the winger's cross in the build-up. But the team's third attempt past the keeper did stand. The left-back delivered a lovely cross to the far post when left unmarked on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. Tarkowski met it with a powerful nod against the bar and, though Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his midfield partner the scorer converted from point-blank. The sense of release inside Hill Dickinson Stadium was palpable.

The home side had a third goal ruled out early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall scored from another inviting Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had cushioned the ball into Barry, who was in an offside position when challenging the Fulham defender for the ball that fell to the home player. Everton would have to wait until the 81st minute for the security of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a corner that the defender glanced over Leno. He did so with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for handball were dismissed by the video official.

Silva’s side posed more danger after the substitutions of Josh King, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper saved well with his legs to prevent the substitute finding the net with his initial involvement and stopped Traoré with a crucial save late on.