Marco Silva says summer signing Joao Palhinha has settled seamlessly into Premier League football and feels there is more to come after the holding midfielder headed home his first Fulham goal against Brentford yesterday.

Palhinha, who became a father for the first time last week, celebrated with a powerful header that put the Whites 2-0 up in the west London derby at Craven Cottage. Silva’s side did allow the Bees to level proceedings at 2-2, but another astonishing late header from Aleksandar Mitrovic sealed Fulham’s first win of the season.

The Fulham head coach was full of praise for the way the Portuguese international has adjusted to life in the English top flight since his £17m move from Sporting:

“His wife had a baby this week, and everyone’s delighted for him and his family. It’s important for him to feel that support from us, but it’s also important that he’s settled really well into our team and at the club.

We knew when we were signing him that he would be a plus for us, for our squad; on the ball, off the ball, set pieces as well. And to see him scoring a goal and playing so well is great. It’s good to see the players take positives from something that we spent a long time on in the week.”