Marco Silva saluted his strikers after both Rodrigo Muniz and Raul Jimenez scored as Fulham saw off Watford to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup this evening.

The Brazilian striker opened the scoring with a superb first-time finish from Adama Traore’s cross but was forced off by a back complaint at half time. The Fulham boss sent on Jimenez, who scored a spot-kick within four minutes of the resumption, and Silva told his post-match press conference that the whole squad is benefiting from the healthy competition between his two in-form strikers.

“We scored a good goal from Rodrigo, it was a good finish from him. He had a small issue before half-time. But it was not an easy finish and the way he did it was really good, it was a proper striker’s finish in that situation, Rodrigo in the box when he strikes the ball in that way is difficult for the goalkeeper to stop. He felt something in his back and it was impossible for him to play the second half.”

Silva was pleased that Mexican veteran Jimenez quickly demonstrated his penalty-taking prowess – only five days after his two spot-kicks secured a draw against Ipswich.

“It was important. He kept the composure again, the goalkeeper waited until the last moment and he scored again. It’s important to have players of that capacity, since the start of the season it’s been a good fight between both [Fulham’s strikers]; it’s nice to have both with the capacity.”