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The Everton manager had made clear before Fulham's visit that the onus for finding the back of the net should not fall solely on the team's strikers. “I demand more goals from my centre-halves and midfielders as well,” he insisted. Idrissa Gueye and the English defender rose to the occasion, delivering a fully deserved victory over Marco Silva’s toothless team.

The Merseyside club's second win in nine matches was largely untroubled as Fulham showed the reason their top marksman this season is opposition own goals. Apart from a brief flurry in the latter period, the visitors were contained throughout by the home team's superior intensity and technical ability. The Blues had three efforts disallowed for infringements, but a poacher’s finish from the midfielder in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s late conversion made sure there would be no reprieve for their ex-coach.

No one was more in need of scoring more than the young striker, the Goodison Park forward who had failed to register a shot on target in 10 league games without testing the goalkeeper after his £27m summer arrival 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 23-year-old headed the earliest chance of the game wide of the Fulham keeper's goal frame when found by Iliman Ndiaye’s fine cross.

The home side dominated the opening stages and the visiting shot-stopper pushed over James Garner’s 30-yard free-kick, given after the Fulham player was yellow-carded for fouling the Everton midfielder. The Serbian tripped the identical opponent later in the half but the referee, Andrew Madley, rightly ignored Everton appeals for a sending off. The Fulham boss was taking no further chances, though, and substituted the player at the interval.

The striker thought his luck had changed at last when sliding in at the back post to turn in a low cross by Gueye. But the elation of a maiden strike was wiped out by an assistant referee’s flag. Ndiaye was in an illegal position when going for Gueye’s cross, and failing to connect, 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 movement and effort kept busy Fulham’s central defenders and contributed to the hosts the upper hand throughout.

Fulham came into the contest gradually with Sander Berge and the former Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi combining effectively in the engine room, but the early danger from the visitors was minimal. The Mexican striker shot tamely at Jordon Pickford when set up inside the area by Iwobi and put a set-piece from a dangerous position straight into the defensive barrier. That summed up their attacking output.

Everton, driven on by the midfielder and the forward, had a second goal disallowed for offside when the Fulham goalkeeper saved a Keane header and James Tarkowski volleyed in the rebound. The skipper had just strayed offside when heading on Jack Grealish’s delivery in the build-up. But the team's next effort past Leno did stand. Vitalii Mykolenko floated a lovely cross to the back post when found in space on the left flank by the youngster. Tarkowski connected with a powerful nod off the crossbar and, though the midfielder fluffed his lines, his midfield partner Gueye 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 found the bottom corner from another inviting delivery from the left. Ndiaye had cushioned the ball into the striker, who was in an offside position when competing with the Fulham defender for the touch that reached the home player. The team would have to wait until the 81st minute for the comfort of a second goal. Dewsbury-Hall was the creator with a corner that Keane directed over Leno. He scored with the upper body, and the visitors' protests for handball were rejected by the video official.

Fulham posed more danger following the substitutions of Josh King, Rodrigo Muniz and Adama Traoré. Pickford saved well with his legs to prevent Muniz finding the net with his initial involvement and denied the speedster with another important stop in the dying moments.