Fulham are on something of a roll and it promises to make an already tight Championship very interesting indeed. Since the lamentable loss to Reading on New Year’s Day, the Whites have claimed thirteen points from a possible fifteen, keeping four clean sheets in the process. The arrival of Michael Hector and the outstanding form of Martin Rodak are certainly the driving force behind Fulham’s new found stubbornness at the back, something that will need to continue if Scott Parker’s side have genuine ambitions of making it into the top two.

Back in August, I was concerned about the defence and the fact Fulham had not strengthened in the summer. The club acted on that in January and, you could argue that last month might go down as one of our strongest windows in recent history, after securing Bobby Decordova-Reid and Ivan Cavaleiro permanently and bringing in Hector as well as Terence Kongolo. We look more organised from back to front, tougher to play through and there seems to be a real togetherness in this squad.

The fact that the Whites are now level on points with Leeds and just four points behind West Brom is remarkable considering the gap between us a few short weeks ago. This, though, is no time for complacency. We can’t afford to consider the job done and expect the likes of Leeds to fade away. Fulham still have trips to Elland Road, the Hawthorns and the City Ground to come in probably the toughest run-in of any of the top sides and I fully expect that the top four or five teams could alternate in the leading positions before the final sprint to the line in May.

The advantage of Fulham’s recent upturn in form is that the situation is now firmly in our own hands. Character and seizing the opportunity is what it will come down to now. The squad has the chance to prove their promotion credentials at the Den on Wednesday night, with Millwall eager to make up for their disappointing display against the Baggies at the weekend and revive their own play-off push. It won’t be easy, but Parker and the team could lay down a marker in south east London with a big performance.

This squad might well be stronger than both the one that reached the Premier League under Jokanovic and, certainly, the side that struggled in the top flight last season. We can hope to learn from the mistakes made as we prepared for our return to the Premier League, but it is vital not to get carried away at this point. We all know the Championship is an unforgiving division and, with a third of the season still ahead of us, there is a lot of football left yet. The key will be consistency – and it is likely that we will have to marry the grit Fulham have shown of late with some of the silkier football that has become our trademark in order to be celebrating at the end of the season.