Startling Mitrovic stat shows just how prolific Fulham striker is this season

Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic has earned deserved praise for his mind-boggling goal tally this season.

The Serbian fired a second hat-trick of the season in Saturday's 3-0 win over promotion rivals West Bromwich Albion.

That took the 27-year-old's tally in the Championship to 18 - by far and away making him the deadliest poacher in England right now.

Even more remarkable is that his tally has come inside 15 games, barely a third of the campaign. Fulham chief Marco Silva was full of appreciation for Mitrovic.

Speaking post-match after seeing his side open up a four-point cushion over the third-placed Baggies, he said: "Strikers that score 18 goals in 15 games, I think the numbers are there. They speak for themselves.

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Aleksandar Mitrovic has 18 goals for Fulham in just 15 games

"Of course a striker cannot win games alone, but if you have a striker who has this capacity to score goals, we should keep creating for him.

"When a striker is scoring and scoring, I don't need to speak to him. His job is done, I have to work on other things with him because his confidence is high.

"His team-mates are helping him and we have to keep the momentum. I'm pleased to see Mitro in a good mood, but also working hard as well."

Mitrovic will now surely have Ivan Toney's all-time Championship goal record of 31 within his sights. The Serbian requires just 14 more goals to beat that and will be confident of doing so given his red-hot form and the fact he has 31 more league games in which to do it.

The scale of his goalscoring is also shown by the fact that he has scored more individual goals than TEN Championship sides so far this season.

Derby County, Barnsley, Hull, Cardiff, Peterborough, Preston, Bristol City, Birmingham, Millwall and Middlesbrough have all scored 17 goals or less after 15 games so far this term.

Additionally, Mitrovic's 18 strikes are the same amount as Swansea City and sixth-placed Blackpool have scored in total.

He is arguably in the form of his life and he gets another opportunity to add even further to his tally on Wednesday night when the Cottagers travel to Blackburn Rovers.

Speaking after his treble against Albion, Mitrovic said: "Playing like this, I'm sure I'm going to score a lot of goals. I know the chances will come and it's about being ready to put them in the net."