Carlos Vinicius thanked the Fulham faithful for their patience after his first goal for the club secured the Whites’ first SW6 derby win in seventeen years last night.

The Brazilian striker, who led the line superbly in place of the suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic, headed the winner against Chelsea from Andreas Pereira’s fine cross to end a run of eleven games without a goal since he signed from Benfica for £5m on deadline day.

Speaking to ESPN Brazil, Vinicius said:

“I am very happy to contribute to the team, to the fans, with this first goal of mine here at Fulham. I’m very happy and it came on time. I had been working, searching, for some time. I was already a little bothered. Because I confess that I’m not one to stay that long without scoring a goal, I was already bothered. And it came at just the right time. A very, very important victory for us and our fans.

“[It was] emotional, because, as I said, I had been working hard for this goal. And the team had the patience. The manager had this patience, the supporters had this patience. So it was really to celebrate a lot and with a victory like that, in a derby, very important for us.”