By John Mastrini
Aleksandar Mitrović has had one of the most prolific seasons of any Fulham player in recent memory.
With 26 goals since their opening match of the season – precisely one year ago today – the Serb became the club’s first man to pick up a golden boot award since Louis Saha in 2001.
Saha fired the Whites into the top flight that year with 27 goals, which is a haul that nobody has bettered in a single Fulham campaign since World War II apart from Bedford Jezzard in the 1950s.
But Mitrović, who is in line to make his 100th appearance for the club, could pull ahead and make history in Tuesday night’s Championship play-off final at Wembley to cap off what has been an eventful 12 months.
It remains to be seen whether the 25-year-old will be fit enough to play a part in the west London derby against Brentford, given that he sat out both of Fulham’s semi-final legs against Cardiff – although boss Scott Parker remains hopeful that he will recover in time.
Mitrović currently sits on 49 goals in those 99 total appearances since joining in the final moments of transfer deadline day in February 2018, and holds the best goals-per-game ratio of anyone who has donned the white shirt more than 50 times.
His sheer consistency is reflected in the Championship-leading minutes-per-goal statistic this term, having converted a chance in every 138 minutes, and he got off to an explosive start by scoring in five consecutive league matches.
A first Fulham hat-trick also came against Luton in October, bookended by braces for Serbia amid an eight-goal streak in five Euro 2020 qualifying games.
As the Whites pushed inside the top six, an ankle ligament injury sustained in January threatened to derail that charge, such is the former Anderlecht man’s impact. But five goals in six games on his return meant that Fulham found themselves in the hunt for automatic promotion for the first time since that Saha-inspired campaign.
The most games he went without a goal was four – two either side of the coronavirus suspension – which included a 2-0 loss at home to Brentford, before Mitrović was hit with a three-game ban for elbowing Leeds defender Ben White.
The Bees’ Ollie Watkins, who was the Serb’s closest challenger to the top-scorer crown, with a regular-season tally of 25, could not quite capitalise while he was sidelined, though the local rivals have been nowhere near as reliant on their own impressive marksman.
By contrast, their goals have been more spread between the potent ‘BMW’ triumvirate with Saïd Benrahma and Bryan Mbeumo contributing 17 and 16 goals respectively, while Mitrović, flanked by expensive recruits Ivan Cavaleiro (six Championship goals) and Anthony Knockaert (three), accounted for 41% of Fulham’s goals.
Indeed, it is Brentford that have been playing with a free-flowing attacking verve that creates space for wingers – the fluid kind that was witnessed from Slaviša Jokanović’s promoted outfit in 2017/18.
Meanwhile, Fulham’s style under Parker has seen them stifle oppositions with possession and using Mitrović as a target man either laying the ball off or challenging for crosses into the box.
It means that if the opposition is able to crowd him out or beat him in the air, Fulham are often unable to build any cohesive attacks or create chances. But those are still big ifs.
And going into the season finale at Wembley, experience could prove crucial in differentiating the two teams and their star men.
Not only was Mitrović a vital cog within the Jokanović side that won at Wembley in 2018, but he was also part of a Newcastle squad that secured immediate promotion to the Premier League the year before that. For Watkins and Brentford, it is rather alien territory.
Despite the disappointment of relegation last spring, Mitrović committed to the club by signing five-year contract extension in July 2019.
Fulham have arguably not had a striker as influential to their style of play since Saha – and that includes the likes of Ross McCormack, Dimitar Berbatov, and Bobby Zamora in recent years.
But a loss under the arch on Tuesday would cast his future at Fulham into doubt once more.
“I haven’t thought about it too much,” he told the matchday programme ahead of the semi-final tie. “I don’t like to look too far forward. When the season has ended, I’ll have a rest, go home, and spend some time with my family and friends.
“We will see what is best for my career. But right now, I want to help Fulham get promoted.”
Should Mitrović make the squad, he’ll have every chance of matching Saha’s achievements from two decades ago and doing just that.