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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 fall solely on his side's strikers. “I want more goals from my centre-halves and central players as well,” he stated. The Senegalese midfielder and the English defender duly obliged, delivering a merited victory over Marco Silva’s ineffective side.

Everton’s second win in nine outings was fairly straightforward as the visitors demonstrated why their top marksman this season is goals gifted by opponents. Apart from a short spell in the second half, the away side were kept quiet all match by Everton’s superior intensity and quality. The Blues had three efforts ruled out for offside, but a close-range strike from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s second-half header made sure there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

No one was more in need of scoring more than Thierno Barry, the Goodison Park attacker who had gone 10 Premier League outings without testing the goalkeeper after his big-money move from the Spanish side and spurned a clear opportunity to put his team 2-0 up at Sunderland on Monday. The youngster directed the earliest chance of the game wide of Bernd Leno’s crossbar when picked out by Iliman Ndiaye’s excellent delivery.

The home side dominated the early exchanges and the visiting shot-stopper pushed over James Garner’s 30-yard free-kick, given after Sasa Lukic was yellow-carded for fouling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Lukic brought down the identical opponent again before halftime but the referee, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored home protests for a sending off. The Fulham boss was not risking anything, however, and substituted the midfielder at the break.

The striker thought his luck had finally turned when sliding in at the back post to turn in a low cross by Gueye. But the joy of a maiden strike was erased by an linesman's decision. The attacker was offside when going for Gueye’s cross, and failing to connect, and the video assistant referee supported the original call. The forward's bad luck may have persisted in the final third, but his all-round performance justified the manager's choice to stick with him. His runs and work-rate occupied the opposition's back line and helped give the hosts the upper hand all game.

Fulham grew into the game gradually with the Norwegian and the former Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi combining effectively in the engine room, but the early danger from the visitors was limited. Raúl Jiménez fired weakly at the England keeper when set up inside the area by his teammate and sent a free-kick from a promising location directly at the defensive barrier. That summed up their attacking output.

The Blues, inspired by Dewsbury-Hall and the forward, had a second goal disallowed for an infringement when Leno parried a Keane header and the captain fired home the loose ball. The home captain had moved offside when nodding down Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But the team's next effort past Leno did stand. The left-back delivered a lovely cross to the far post when left unmarked on the left flank by Tim Iroegbunam. The defender met it with a thumping header off the crossbar and, though Iroegbunam fluffed his lines, his midfield partner the scorer converted from close range. The relief inside Hill Dickinson Stadium was evident.

Everton had a further effort ruled out after the restart after Dewsbury-Hall found the bottom corner from a further excellent Mykolenko cross. Ndiaye had cushioned the ball into the striker, who was in an offside position when challenging Joachim Anderson for the touch that reached the home player. The team would have to wait until the closing stages for the security of a two-goal lead. The provider was the architect with a set-piece that the defender glanced past the goalkeeper. He scored with the back of his shoulder, and the visitors' protests for handball were rejected by VAR.

Fulham posed more danger after the introductions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. The Everton keeper made a fine stop with his feet to prevent Muniz finding the net with his first touch and stopped the speedster with a crucial save in the dying moments.