Willian defends goal-shy Vinicius but admits that missing Mitrović is a 'great' player

Fulham winger Willian has leaped to the defence of Vinicius but admitted that the team is missing Aleksandar Mitrovic who is currently serving an eight-match ban.

Vinicius has fired two blanks since deputising for the Serbian centre-forward and was largely anonymous against West Ham on Saturday as the Cottagers lost their FIFTH game on the bounce.

Ex-Chelsea star Willian told Capital Football: "With Vinicius we tried hard to move the ball and have contact with him.

"Sometimes we didn't do that, but we created some chances, playing between the lines.

"He made a great pass to Andreas (Perreira). But it's part of football sometimes. It can just not be your day and then other times it is."

Yet having or not having Mitrović leading your line can change the complexion of the game as the two-time Premier League winner said: "Aleksandar is a good player, a great player for us. But yeah, we have players with whom we can find a way to play well and still win games.

"We will try to improve in training and will look to win the games ahead, we have been good this season, and played some good football.

“And we want to get back to our best level. Of course we don’t want the season to end on a down, nobody wants that."