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David Moyes had made clear before Fulham's visit that the onus for scoring goals must not rest only on the team's forwards. “I demand more goals from my centre-halves and midfielders as well,” he stated. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender duly obliged, delivering a merited victory over Marco Silva’s toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine matches was largely untroubled as Fulham highlighted why their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a short spell in the latter period, the away side were contained throughout by the home team's greater urgency and quality. The Blues had three efforts disallowed for offside, but a poacher’s finish from the midfielder in added time before the break and Keane’s late conversion ensured there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No one 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 gilt-edged chance 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 over Bernd Leno’s goal frame when picked out by his teammate's fine cross.

Everton dominated the opening stages and the Fulham goalkeeper tipped over the midfielder's long-range set-piece, given after Sasa Lukic was booked for hauling down the Everton midfielder. Lukic tripped the same player later in the half but the referee, Andrew Madley, correctly waved away Everton appeals for a sending off. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, though, and withdrew the player at the break.

Barry believed 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 linesman's decision. The attacker was offside when going for the delivery, and failing to connect, and the video assistant referee backed up the original call. The forward's bad luck may have continued in front of goal, but his all-round performance justified Moyes’ decision to keep the faith. His runs and work-rate kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to the hosts the upper hand all game.

The Londoners came into the contest gradually with the Norwegian and the former Everton midfielder the Nigerian working well in midfield, but the first half threat from the visitors was minimal. The Mexican striker fired weakly at the England keeper when set up inside the area by his teammate and put a set-piece from a dangerous position straight into the defensive barrier. And that was it.

The Blues, driven on by the midfielder and Ndiaye, had a another strike chalked off for offside when the Fulham goalkeeper parried a Keane header and James Tarkowski fired home the rebound. The skipper had moved offside when nodding down Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But Everton’s third attempt past Leno counted. Vitalii Mykolenko delivered a lovely cross to the back post when found in space on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. Tarkowski met it with a thumping header against the bar and, though the midfielder mishit the rebound, his teammate Gueye finished from point-blank. The relief 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 a further excellent delivery from the left. Ndiaye had laid off the delivery into the striker, who was offside when challenging Joachim Anderson for the ball that reached the Everton midfielder. The team would have to wait until the closing stages for the security 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 rejected by VAR.

Silva’s side posed more danger after the substitutions of the forward, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. Pickford saved well with his feet to deny the substitute finding the net with his first touch and stopped the speedster with a crucial save in the dying moments.