sport news Aleksandr Mitrovic proves he is READY for the Premier League against Liverpool trends now
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With just 47 seconds on the clock, you wondered whether old habits were going to die hard. Trent Alexander-Arnold had carelessly conceded possession and handed the opportunity for Aleksander Mitrovic to scuttle forward.
Mitrovic was Fulham’s “killer” – a description given to him by captain Tom Cairney – in the Championship, with 43 goals in their title-winning campaign.
It would do his team-mates a disservice to call him a one-man band but, without him, there prospects of playing in the Premier League would have been horribly diminished.
Aleksandar Mitrović came out on top in his battle with Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk
Fulham's Serbian towers over Trent Alexander-Arnold to open the scoring against Liverpool
The Premier League, however, has been a challenge for the Serbian. The last time he was here with Fulham, he managed three goals in 27 appearances.
It had been better in 2018-19, with a tally of 11 in 37 games, but not enough to suggest he was going to be a nuisance for top defenders.
So in that first minute, as he charged towards Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker, you wondered what would happen – a dead-eyed finish or ammunition for those who want to call him ‘jigsaw’, in that he falls apart in a box? A scuffed toe-poke wide suggested the latter.
Perhaps it was nerves. In the opening half-hour, he had not given Virgil van Dijk or Joel Matip any indication that they would be taken
