Amid all the praise for Aleksandar Mitrovic’s magnificent header and the wonderful cross from Neco Williams, one man’s assured showing in the Fulham midfield at Hull on Saturday seems to have skipped under the radar. Nathaniel Chalobah has quietly crept to the top of Marco Silva’s pecking order in a competitive engine room over the past few weeks and his presence in front of the back four was a big reason why the Whites headed home from Humberside with a slender victory.

That Chalobah cuts a commanding figure in a successful Championship side shouldn’t really be a surprise. The tall, talented midfield man has a Premier League winners’ medal from his time in Walham Green and had been rewarded for a series of superb showings under Silva at Watford with an England cap by Gareth Southgate as recently as three and a half years ago before a freak training ground injury ruined his chances of making it to the World Cup in Russia. Fulham were only too happy to be reunited with the man who left their academy to move down the road at the age of ten when offered his services on a free transfer back in September, but fitness worries made for a frustrating start to Chalobah’s second spell with the Whites.

For a while you felt that the man born in Sierra Leone might fade like his good mate who also made a deadline day switch from Vicarage Road, Domingos Quina. Where the Portuguese’s loan move fizzled out, Chalobah is now beginning to prove his worth having been inspired by the fierce combination for places in the middle of the park. A chequered injury history means he is no stranger to biding his time and the man whose response to knee surgery saw him undertake a football business course to broaden his horizons is clearly a student not only of the game but of the world around him.

That was proven by the fact that he quickly learnt Italian to communicate with his team-mates better during a loan spell at Napoli, where Chalobah learned the art of being a holding midfielder under the instructions of the demanding Mauricio Sarri, who guided the Azzuri to within a whisker of the Scudetto. Having been first utilised regularly in front of the back four by Gianfranco Zola at Watford in his first loan spell after playing much of his youth football in the centre of defence, Chalobah is now a natural at soaking up pressure and with his powerful physique and reading of the game he seems ideally suited to slot into Silva’s system.

His pedigree in the second tier isn’t to be sniffed at either. He was almost ever present under Zola as Watford went all the way to the Championship play-off final in the first of six loans away from Stamford Bridge and, after overcoming all that injury heartache, captained the Hornets for a while as they clinched promotion back to the top flight last term. He has a decent eye for a pass but, more crucially in a side set up to be adventurous, he can dictate the pace of proceedings from a deeper position and it is a sign of how strong his string of recent starts have been that both Harrison Reed and Jean Michael Seri – so impressive in different ways over the past eighteen months – are having to kick their heels on the bench.

We shouldn’t go overboard after a handful of appearances but Chalobah could well be better suited to making the step up than any of his central midfield colleagues. He didn’t look out of place in a first half where Fulham more than matched Manchester City in the FA Cup and was encouraging effective against Millwall at Craven Cottage a few days later. His screening of the back four at the MKM Stadium on Saturday in those challenging conditions was first class, but he also played an important role in managing the game as the Whites held onto the narrow advantage earned by Mitrovic’s aerial brilliance.

Silva highlighted all of his qualities in the aftermath of a debut at St. Andrew’s that saw him set Fulham on the way to victory over Birmingham by winning a first half penalty and the only thing that will stop him from cementing a regular spot in the starting line up will be a failure to stay fit. That’s why we wince every time he goes down and feels that knee but the signs are more than promising so far. The commanding Chalobah could be the bargain to meld steel and style in the middle of Fulham’s spine.