Aleksandar Mitrovic says he is in the ‘best form of my life’ after his hat-trick helped Fulham to see off West Brom and consolidate their hold on second place in the Championship.

The Serbian striker, a peripheral figure under Scott Parker as the Whites were relegated from the Premier League last year, has now scored eighteen goals in fifteen games this term. He looks rejuvenated under new head coach Marco Silva and told FFCTV after the final whistle:

“This is the best form I have had in my life. I feel good, I feel confident. In this team, on the pitch I know that I have a lot of quality around me, I know that the manager really trusts in my abilities and trusts in myself. We play good football, we have a good time – why not be confident? We show every game that our confidence is growing, that we grow us a team. Today was a big, big game and I will enjoy it before recovering to focus on another big game on Wednesday.”

Mitrovic was delighted with his second hat trick of the season that proved enough to decisively settle this battle between two of the favourites for promotion.

“I’m happy with three of goals of course. I’m happy with the performance. I thought we had a really good game, both offensively and defensively, both sides of the games. I thought we deserved the win.

I scored three different goals. I’m still ready always. I know the chances will come. I have quality players around me. Even when we are defending, we defend high and as a striker you always think what will happen and where you want be. I was in the right place, at the right time. Two goals were easy goals, but I think they come from staying sharp.”

He admitted that the penalty awarded against Kyle Bartley could have been considered soft and felt his second strike was a reward for remaining switched on even when West Brom held possession.

“The penalty was a soft one. I felt the contact and went down. I saw the video. It was a soft contact – you could argue if it was a penalty or not. The contact exists and that’s how the referee it. I practice penalties always after training. I knew where I was going. I stayed calm, take a deep breath and try to put the ball where I want.

We know they are a little bit open. We tried to press them a little bit higher to make them take a risk. Mika had really good pressure. I saw that Mika was coming and tried to predict that Mika would take the ball or something would happen. I tried to stay sharp and when the ball came I saw the chance, I saw the keeper was a little bit out of the goal, so I knew that I had to move quickly so I slide in to score the goal.”