DOZEN HE LOOK GOOD
Mitrovic feeling doubly thrilled as boss Marco helps him rack up his best start
FULHAM 4
Mitrovic 10, 67, Decordova-Reid 71, Robinson 90+1
1
55
QPR Dykes
BY STEVE JUDGE ALEKSANDAR MITROVIC is repaying Marco Silva’s trust by delivering his best start to a season.
The Fulham striker made it 12 goals in as many games with a double to down their west London rivals.
It tops his previous best run in 2019-20, when it took him 16 games to reach a deadly dozen.
The Serbian ended that season the Championship’s joint-top scorer with Ollie Watkins on 26 goals as the Cottagers gained promotion via the play-offs.
Scarily for his rivals, the 27-year-old claimed the arrival of manager Silva (below) in July has helped take his game to a new level.
Mitrovic said: “I feel good on the pitch. For a striker, the most important thing is to have confidence and at the moment I have loads of confidence.
“I have improved my game a lot under Marco. He made me realise that I can be used in different ways.
“He wants to use me a lot on the ball as a platform for our attacks.
“I have the freedom, if I am honest, to move where I want. He trusts me and I feel great in this team, the way we play and we have to continue like this in the next big game on Wednesday against Cardiff.”
Mitrovic took just 10 minutes to show his strengths in the penalty box, taking down Neeskens Kebano’s cross on his chest before swivelling to drill a low shot inside Seny Dieng’s near post.
After Lyndon Dykes rounded Marek Rodak to level for the visitors on 55 minutes, Mitrovic rose to direct Kebano’s 67th-minute cross out of Dieng’s reach and in off the post with a world-class header.
That knocked the stuffing out of Rangers and subs Bobby Decordova-Reid and Antonee Robinson (right) finished them off.
The arrival of Dykes as a half-time sub had threatened to reshape the game.
But Hoops boss Mark Warburton had no regrets about starting the in-form
Scotland striker on the bench.
He said: “Lyndon had two 90-minute games for Scotland and travelled back from the Faroe Islands.
“You have to look after these players. We have seven games in 21 days starting at Blackburn on Tuesday.
“These are big demands on the players. It is easy in hindsight to say we should have started him and brought him off after an hour.
“He came on and did the job to make it 1-1 and we were in a good position. We didn’t maximise that position.”