Slavisa Jokanovic was pleased Fulham got their just rewards for a fine season when they defeated Aston Villa at Wembley.

A 1-0 win in the play-off final saw Fulham return to the top flight, and rightly so according to Jokanovic.

“We’ve shown we are one of the best Championship teams,” he said. “We showed we can be solid, organised and work altogether for a clean sheet. The last 20 minutes [with 10 men] all we were thinking about was not conceding.

“This is a really important victory for us. We deserved it. It’s not easy to play at Wembley, there is a lot of pressure.

“We know what is ahead of us. The Premier League is the best and most competitive league, and we must be clever.

“One important improvement is now finished, and now we must show ambition to be a Premier League team.”

Tom Cairney delivered a real skipper’s display, working relentlessly and scoring the game’s only goal with a cool finish.

“The last two years Cairney has been fantastic,” Jokanovic stated. “The beginning of the season we had to find a solution for his knee problem, but when he came back he played like we remember last season.

“Today he was crucial, he’s captain of the team. He showed the quality and personality to bring the team to the Premier League, and he’s an important player for us.”