Fulham boss hails forward’s performance in Leicester win as Aleksandar Mitrovic serves final game suspension

Marco Silva hailed the performance of forward Carlos Vinicius in Fulham’s 5-3 win over Leicester City on Sunday.

The Brazilian scored Fulham’s second of the afternoon in the 18th minute when he collected a through ball from Harry Wilson on the edge of the box and slotted a perfectly placed low-driven shot beyond Leicester keeper Daniel Iversen.

But star man Aleksandar Mitrovic will be available for selection once again next week at Southampton after serving his eight-game ban after pushing referee Chris Kavanagh in Fulham’s FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Old Trafford in March.

“Everyone can see it,” said Silva when asked if he had seen an improvement in Vinicius’ performances.

“When you are a football player, you need minutes, you need consistency, you need to be on the pitch week in and week out to get some confidence to improve.

“And if you are a striker and you come on for 10 minutes in a game, five minutes in the other, 30 minutes in the other, you don’t get the consistency in terms of minutes, and it’s more difficult for you to pop up and show every single time your quality.

“Now he is in a better moment – everyone can see it. He is much more confident with more minutes and more games in his legs. I’m pleased for him because he deserves it.

“The season, for him, has had some ups and downs, and now that he’s performing better, he’s improving, he’s more confident, he can show his quality better, and he’s scoring goals as well.

“It’s important for him, and I’m pleased because he deserves it, even if some moments this season I was the first one to demand more from him and to push him more, because I know his quality. Now I’m pleased for him that he’s showing this quality.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD