🔗 Share this article

David Moyes had made clear before Fulham's visit that the onus for finding the back of the net must not rest only on the team's forwards. “I expect more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he insisted. The Senegalese midfielder and Michael Keane rose to the occasion, securing a fully deserved victory over the opposition's toothless side.

Everton’s second victory in nine outings was largely untroubled as the visitors demonstrated why their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a brief flurry in the second half, the visitors were subdued throughout by the home team's superior intensity and technical ability. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for offside, but a poacher’s finish from the midfielder in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s second-half header made sure there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No player needed a goal as much as Thierno Barry, the Goodison Park forward who had failed to register a shot on target in 10 league games without a shot on target after his big-money move from the Spanish side and missed a gilt-edged chance to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light on Monday. The youngster 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 early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper pushed over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, awarded after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The Serbian brought down the identical opponent again before halftime but the official, the man in charge, correctly waved away home protests for a sending off. Silva was taking no further chances, though, and substituted the player at the break.

The striker thought his fortune had finally turned when arriving at the back post to convert a low cross by Gueye. But the elation of a maiden strike was erased by an linesman's decision. Ndiaye was offside when attacking Gueye’s cross, and missing, and the video assistant referee supported the original call. Barry’s misfortune may have persisted in the final third, but his all-round performance validated the manager's choice to keep the faith. His movement and work-rate kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to Everton the upper hand throughout.

Fulham came into the contest slowly with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player the Nigerian combining effectively in the engine room, but the early danger from the visitors was limited. The Mexican striker fired weakly at the England keeper when set up inside the area by his teammate and put a free-kick from a promising location straight into the defensive barrier. That summed up their attacking output.

Everton, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a second goal chalked off for an infringement when Leno saved a Keane header and the captain volleyed in the loose ball. The home captain had just strayed offside when heading on the winger's cross in the build-up. But Everton’s next effort past the keeper counted. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a lovely cross to the back post when left unmarked on the left by the youngster. Tarkowski met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his teammate Gueye finished from close range. The sense of release inside the ground was palpable.

The home side had a further effort disallowed after the restart after the playmaker scored from a further excellent Mykolenko cross. The attacker had cushioned the ball into Barry, who was offside when competing with Joachim Anderson for the ball that fell to the Everton midfielder. The team would have to wait until the 81st minute for the comfort of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a set-piece that Keane glanced past the goalkeeper. He did so with the back of his shoulder, and Fulham’s appeals for a handball were dismissed by VAR.

Fulham carried more of a threat after the introductions of the forward, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his legs to deny Muniz scoring with his first touch and stopped Traoré with a crucial save late on.