Fulham boss Scott Parker is counting on Aleksandar Mitrovic finding his goalscoring touch after he hit five goals for Serbia this past week.

The 26-year-old has scored just twice in the Premier League this season, both goals coming in a 4-3 defeat at Leeds in September.

“I can understand the frustration," he said of Mitrovic's lack of goals for Fulham.

“But no one is more frustrated than Mitro. This is professional sport and sometimes there are little blips.

“I look at the journey he has been on from last year; he wasn't fit to play in the play-off final at Wembley.

“He had a short turnaround in pre-season and it has been a bit bumpy, he has had Covid, had a big penalty miss for Serbia and these are the journeys players go on.

“Sometimes players just need air, they need oxygen to get in and just regroup a bit, take the pressure off them and if they have got the talent and the ethic about them they come back stronger and they come back to that point and hopefully that is where Mitro is."

Mitrovic also scored twice against Azerbaijan and pulled one back for Serbia as they went on to draw 2-2 with Portugal.

Parker now wants those goals to act as a confidence boost for the former Newcastle forward as the Cottagers enter the business end of the season.

“Five goals in three games, I'm pleased for Mitro," he added.

“We all saw it in terms of his emotion and that feeling of scoring as a centre-forward.

“It is fair to say that at times this year Mitro has been up and down. What you saw in midweek was Mitro in a nutshell.

“That is the work he has done in the last three or four weeks and the goals are the by-product of that.

“It is a little bit of confidence which is what he needs, the talent has always been there, it is what affects forwards at some moments and certainly I'd like to think that the confidence is there."