Rodrigo Muñiz continues his good streak to extinguish Brighton's European ambitions | first division

Marco Silva believes Rodrigo Muñiz is “getting better and better” after the Brazilian striker inspired Fulham to an impressive victory over Brighton.

Muñiz got his fifth first division goal in five games with a clinical header that came after his assist on Harry Wilson's long-range shot had given Fulham a deserved lead at Craven Cottage.

Adama Traoré came off the bench to open his account of the season for four added minutes in the second half.

Silva praised Muñiz's impact in recent weeks, which has kept loan signing Armando Broja out of the starting XI.

“They were great performances. Rodrigo is getting better and better,” Silva said. “He is getting stronger, which is really difficult for defenders to handle. We know that if we take care of it within the area then it is really dangerous.

“We expected Brighton to play man-to-man all over the pitch and put pressure on us, and we knew we had to play behind that pressure. Having a player like Rodrigo to unite our game and build our attack is really important.

“The way he is improving in all aspects of the game is really good for us and for him. He is a happy boy, as expected, and I think there is still more to come from him.”

Fulham's early pressure was rewarded in the 21st minute when Muniz pushed Lewis Dunk into the air, flicking the ball into the path of Wilson, who fired into the top corner. Wilson returned the favor 13 minutes before the break when he put the ball over Muñiz's head to double the lead.

The partnership of Wilson and Muniz continued to trouble Brighton in the second half, but it was Traoré who secured the points in stoppage time when he went clear before firing a powerful shot past Jason Steele.

The victory marked Fulham's first consecutive wins since December after last week's 2-1 victory over Manchester United.

Silva believes that his team's victory was the reward for the desire shown by his players. “I am very happy because we deserved the three points with a clean sheet. Getting back-to-back wins in the Premier League is really difficult and we wanted to win again after the game against Aston Villa (2-1 loss).

“We show quality, commitment and desire to do the right things and that is positive. The first half was almost perfect. They didn't create a single opportunity and we were accurate with the goals we scored.”

Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi claimed his team played without adequate energy as their hopes of a top-six finish suffered a further blow following a disappointing FA Cup exit against Wolves in midweek.

De Zerbi said: “In the Premier League you have to give 100% effort and you can't play with 50 or 60%. I think we didn't play well and we didn't deserve to win the game. Fulham played a good game but it wasn't incredible. For us it is a difficult moment.”