What milestones are next for Aleksandar Mitrovic after surpassing Ivan Toney mark?

Fulham v Peterborough United – Sky Bet Championship – Craven Cottage
(Image credit: Adam Davy)

Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic broke the Sky Bet Championship record for goals scored in a regular season on Wednesday.

A brace in a 2-1 win over Peterborough took the Serbian’s league tally for the campaign to 33, beating the competition’s previous best of Ivan Toney – who struck 31 times for Brentford last term – and putting him nine behind Guy Whittingham’s second-tier, 46-game record of 42 set in the 1992-93 season.

Here, the PA news agency looks at how far Mitrovic could push his total.

Mitrovic v Toney

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Mitrovic’s 33 goals to date have come in just 30 Championship appearances, with three hat-tricks and a further six two-goal hauls.

Toney only scored his 31st goal of Brentford’s regular season on the final day against Bristol City in what was his 45th appearance. They needed the play-offs to secure their elevation to the Premier League, with Toney adding two more goals in those three games.

Toney’s only hat-trick came against Wycombe, with four doubles as he scored in 25 separate games in all compared to 21 so far for Mitrovic.

Mitrovic has played 2,773 minutes of league football, including stoppage time, having started all but the games against Derby in November and Stoke in January and been substituted on nine occasions, often very late in the game.

Ivan Toney's goalscoring exploits in the Sky Bet Championship last season fired Brentford to promotion

Ivan Toney’s goalscoring exploits in the Sky Bet Championship last season fired Brentford to promotion (Mike Egerton/PA)

Toney played 4,123 minutes in the regular season as he broke through the 30 barrier, raising the tantalising prospect of Mitrovic reaching an even more momentous figure.

The chase for 40

Mitrovic is well on course to record the most prolific season in England since the early 1990s and should challenge the 40-goal mark.

In the Premier League, there were 34-goal seasons from Andy Cole for Newcastle in 1993-94 – when Jimmy Quinn also scored 35 for third-tier Reading – and Alan Shearer for Blackburn the following year.

Mitrovic’s double against Posh took him past Mohamed Salah’s tally of 32 goals for Liverpool in the 2017-18 campaign, which was a record for a 38-game top-flight season.

Aleksandar Mitrovic scores in Fulham's 2-1 win over Peterborough

Aleksandar Mitrovic scores in Fulham’s 2-1 win over Peterborough (Adam Davy/PA)

Paul Mullin achieved the same mark (32) for Cambridge in League Two last season, while in League One Jordan Rhodes’ 35 for Huddersfield in 2011-12 is the next landmark in front of Mitrovic.

He is well on course to post the first 40-goal English Football League season since 1992-93, when Whittingham scored 42 for Portsmouth in the second tier. Despite his remarkable efforts, Pompey missed out on promotion – on goals scored.

Ricky Miller hit 40 in the National League for Dover in 2016-17 but Mitrovic would be the first since Whittingham to do so in the top four divisions.

But Mitrovic has some going to match Dixie Dean’s all-time English league record of 60 goals in a season or George Camsell’s second-tier mark of 59.

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