Nathaniel Chalobah feels like he is getting back to his best – and admits the competition for places in Fulham’s midfield is driving him to play at an even higher level.

The England international has endured a stop-start opening to his Fulham career with injuries limiting his involvement in the early weeks after a September switch from Watford. But the 27 year-old came through a challenging ninety minutes at Manchester City on Saturday and told the club’s official website tonight there was plenty to be pleased about.

“I think we had probably one of our best 45 minutes of the season in the first half. Going into the game our main focus was to have the courage to play against a good team like City. The most important thing was to show that bravery to get on the ball and play the way that we play, which is what the Manager reiterates every week. I think the first half was a great image of ourselves, and in the second half things changed a little bit. They changed their formation and the way that they pressed us. The result could have been different on another day, but a lot of the boys really enjoyed the game.

It was good. They’re world class players, and you always want to go up against the best. It was a good challenge playing against them. I’ve played with Kevin [de Bruyne] before and played against him a few times as well, so I knew what the challenge was going to be. He’s a top quality player, and so are the other two in their midfield, so it was just about concentrating and doing the best that I could.”

Chalobah admits that it isn’t easy breaking into Marco Silva’s first-choice midfield but feels that is the perfect indication of Fulham’s strength.

“That competitive spirit between all of us is what gets us performing at a high level every week. Healthy competition is what you need when a team’s objective is to get back to the Premier League. With all the players we have in the squad, there’s always going to be a fight for your spot. Those playing will fight hard to keep their spot, and likewise those of us who are trying to get in the team. Competition is good as we’re always at our best level, and we’ll just try and take that into games. If the team’s doing well and winning every week, you can’t complain. The most important thing is the team, so if the team’s doing well, and I’m part of it, then there’s no complaints there. Obviously I’d love to be starting every week, but you’ve got to give credit to the boys who are playing. They’re doing really well, and we’re winning games. At the end of the day, the objective is to get to the Premier League, whichever way we do it.”

Attention now switches to tomorrow night’s London derby against Millwall, who Chalobah considers particularly tough opponents.

“They’re a tough side to play against. Our advantage is we’re at home and we’ve come back from a good performance that we’ll look to try and emulate. We’ve just got to focus on ourselves. We’re top of the league for a reason and we just have to go out there and play with confidence.”