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The Everton manager had stressed before Fulham's visit that the onus for finding the back of the net must not rest only on the team's strikers. “I demand more goals from my defenders and midfielders as well,” he declared. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender duly obliged, securing a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s toothless side.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine outings was fairly straightforward as Fulham demonstrated the reason their leading scorer this season is goals gifted by opponents. Apart from a brief flurry in the second half, the visitors were subdued all match by the home team's greater urgency and quality. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for infringements, but a close-range strike from Gueye in added time before the break and the defender's late conversion ensured there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No player was more in need of scoring 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 clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at the Stadium of Light earlier in the week. The youngster headed the earliest chance of the game wide of the Fulham keeper's goal frame when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

The home side dominated the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over James Garner’s long-range set-piece, awarded after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for hauling down Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic tripped the identical opponent later in the half but the official, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored home protests for a sending off. Silva was taking no further chances, though, and withdrew the midfielder at the break.

The striker thought his luck had changed at last when sliding in at the far post to convert a drilled pass by Gueye. But the elation of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. The attacker was in an illegal position when going for the delivery, and failing to connect, and the video assistant referee supported the original call. Barry’s misfortune may have persisted in the final third, but his all-round performance justified the manager's choice to keep the faith. His runs and effort kept busy the opposition's back line and helped give Everton the edge all game.

The Londoners grew into the game slowly with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player Alex Iwobi combining effectively in midfield, but the first half threat from the away team was limited. The Mexican striker fired weakly at the England keeper when set up inside the area by Iwobi and sent a free-kick from a dangerous position directly at the Everton wall. And that was it.

Everton, inspired by the midfielder and Ndiaye, had a another strike disallowed for offside when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a Keane header and James Tarkowski fired home the loose ball. The home captain had just strayed beyond the last defender when nodding down the winger's delivery in the build-up. But Everton’s third attempt past Leno did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a lovely cross to the back post when found in space on the left flank by the youngster. Tarkowski connected with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his teammate Gueye converted from point-blank. The sense of release inside the ground was palpable.

The home side had a further effort ruled out early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from another inviting Mykolenko cross. The attacker had laid off the delivery into Barry, who was offside when challenging Joachim Anderson for the touch that fell to 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 creator with a corner that Keane glanced past the goalkeeper. He scored with the back of his shoulder, and Fulham’s appeals for handball were dismissed by VAR.

Fulham posed more danger after the substitutions of the forward, the Brazilian and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his legs to prevent the substitute scoring with his first touch and stopped Traoré with another important stop late on.