🔗 Share this article

The Everton manager had stressed before Fulham's visit that the responsibility for scoring goals must not fall solely on his side's forwards. “I want more goals from my defenders and central players as well,” he declared. Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane duly obliged, earning a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective team.

Everton’s second win in nine matches was fairly straightforward as Fulham demonstrated why their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. Aside from a brief flurry in the second half, the away side were subdued all match by Everton’s greater urgency and quality. The Blues had three efforts disallowed for infringements, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and the defender's second-half header made sure there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No player was more in need of scoring as much as the young striker, the Everton forward who had gone 10 Premier League outings without a shot on target after his big-money move from the Spanish side and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team two goals ahead at Sunderland earlier in the week. The 23-year-old headed the earliest chance of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s goal frame when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

Everton dominated the opening stages and the visiting shot-stopper pushed over the midfielder's 30-yard free-kick, given after the Fulham player was booked for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The Serbian tripped the identical opponent later in the half but the referee, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a sending off. Silva was not risking anything, however, and withdrew the midfielder at the interval.

Barry thought his fortune had finally turned when arriving at the back post to convert a low cross by Gueye. But the elation of a first Everton goal was erased by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when attacking Gueye’s cross, and missing, and the VAR supported the original call. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in front of goal, but his all-round performance justified the manager's choice to stick with him. His runs and work-rate kept busy the opposition's back line and contributed to the hosts the edge throughout.

The Londoners came into the contest gradually with Sander Berge and the ex-Goodison player Alex Iwobi combining effectively in the engine room, but the first half threat from the away team was limited. The Mexican striker fired weakly at Jordon Pickford when teed up inside the area by Iwobi and put a free-kick from a dangerous position directly at the defensive barrier. And that was it.

Everton, driven on by Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye, had a another strike disallowed for offside when the Fulham goalkeeper parried a Keane header and the captain fired home the rebound. The skipper had just strayed beyond the last defender when nodding down Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But Everton’s third attempt beating the keeper did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko floated a lovely cross to the back post when found in space on the left by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender connected with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam mishit the rebound, his teammate the scorer finished from point-blank. The sense of release inside the ground was palpable.

Everton had a further effort ruled out early in the second half after Dewsbury-Hall scored from a further excellent delivery from the left. The attacker had cushioned the ball into the striker, who was offside when competing with the Fulham defender for the touch that reached the Everton midfielder. The team would have to be patient until the closing stages for the comfort of a second goal. The provider was the architect with a corner that the defender glanced past the goalkeeper. He did so with the upper body, and Fulham’s appeals for a handball were rejected by the video official.

Silva’s side carried more of a threat following the substitutions of the forward, the Brazilian and the winger. Pickford saved well with his legs to deny Muniz finding the net with his first touch and stopped Traoré with another important stop late on.