Marco Silva hailed “unbelievable” Aleksandar Mitrovic as “much more than a goalscorer”, after he led Fulham to victory over Brighton last night.
Mitrovic has been at the heart of the west London club’s fast start, and his tally of five Premier League goals is only bettered by Manchester City’s Erling Haaland. The Serb opened the scoring shortly after half-time before a Lewis Dunk own-goal doubled Fulham’s lead.
While Brighton hit back through an Alexis Mac Allister penalty, the home side held firm to maintain their fine start to the season.
Silva has heaped praise on Mitrovic, but believes he is much more than just a goalscorer.
“Mitro was unbelievable, not just because he scored again,” said Silva. “He needs goals, like all strikers, and you could see after he scored he had a boost and started to be everywhere. He was good on the ball, he scored again, but off the ball he was unbelievable.
“I already did it, but I have to congratulate him. All the credit for him, because of the way he pressed, the way he did it, the way he helped in certain areas of the pitch. He was unbelievable. He is not a goalscorer for us, he is much more than that.”
After winning promotion last season, Fulham had been predicted to struggle back in the Premier League. However, they held Liverpool to a draw on the opening day and were unlucky to lose to table-topping Arsenal last weekend.
“Unbelievable work from our team,” said Silva. “It was fantastic the way we pressed. They deserve all the credit. I’m really proud of them, of the fans as well, because they helped us when we were struggling a little bit.”
On Saturday, Fulham travel to Tottenham, and Silva will want his side to keep the momentum going.