Championship: Fulham’s irrepressible Aleksandar Mitrovic believes club ‘deserve’ promotion to Premier League

Aleksandar Mitrovic believes Fulham ‘deserve’ a place in the Premier League next season, after his winning goal extended the club’s unbeaten run to 23 games.

Victory over Sunderland on Friday night kept the fight for automatic promotion alive, meaning second place would be decided by their final game next weekend.

The Newcastle loanee is one of the most in-form strikers in the Championship, having scored 12 goals since arriving in West London at the end of January. Speaking after the game, Mitrovic said Fulham’s impressive form is worthy of promotion, acknowledging the impact his own performances have had on their success.

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“I think we show that we deserve to be in the first two places for sure,” he said. “I say this, but this is a really tough league so you never know what is going to happen, that’s why this league is the hardest.”

Fulham have been on an unassailable run in the second half of the season, especially at home, where their last defeat came in October.

Both Mitrovic and his parent club in the north east would have taken particular pride in him scoring the winning goal against an already relegated Sunderland. His header at the back post from a free-kick with 14 minutes to go gave him a “release” as the pressure was beginning to mount.

“This team have a winning mentality,” said the Serbian. “To not lose 23 games in a row is a big thing and you have to show character, to show mentality to have good squad and have a good relationship between the players on the pitch and outside the pitch as well, so I think it’s a really big thing.”

Before arriving at Fulham, Mitrovic hadn’t started a league game at Newcastle for nine months, his only goal coming in a substitute appearance in August. The 23-year-old is now the target man in Slavisa Jokanovic’s team, and the manager’s tactics have certainly suited him so far.

“He [Jokanovic] showed me every day support that he believed in me, that he trusted me,” he said. “And of course you can see on the pitch that I’m really positive. I’m not going to say I’m full of confidence, but I’m really confident. I really enjoy to play under him.”

“Every game where we play in this style as a striker I know I will get one or two chances minimum,” he added. “Every striker would enjoy to play in this system, and I really enjoy it and I’m really happy. I score goals, I’m really happy about that but the most important thing is we put pressure on Cardiff.”

Mitrovic has made it clear he’s enjoying his football at Craven Cottage, but whether both he and the likes of the Championship player of the season Ryan Sessegnon remain here depends heavily on which division the club is in come June.

“I hope we will be in the Premier League and we will see how it’s going to work,” Mitrovic said, “but at the moment this football that Fulham played this season works very well for us and we have to stick with our style and looking forward to recover now and to prepare for the final game.”