Antonee Robinson insists Fulham will not consider any matches to be ‘free hits’ this season, ahead of Saturday’s opener with Liverpool.
The Reds will be one of the favourites for the title with their freshened up squad, but Jedi says his side will be looking to take points from every fixture.
Speaking to Premier League Productions, he said: “We’ve got a lot of tough games at the start.
“Pretty early on we’ve got [Liverpool], we’ve got Chelsea, we’ve got quite a lot of top teams early on, but I don’t see it as a free hit.
“We’ve just got to go into the game confident and play our gameplan how we do, and execute that.
“We’ll be set up in a way to try and nullify Liverpool’s strengths, so hopefully we get something out of it. Opening day, anything can happen.”
Surrounded by Liverpool fans in his personal life, you might think Saturday’s fixture is a perfect opening day clash for Jedi, but he jokes that it’s led to his mates showing their true colours.
“I was a bit annoyed to be honest, because my birthday is a couple of days after the opening day, so I was speaking to friends and family and asking if they wanted to come visit,” he explained.
“And my friends – who are all die-hard Liverpool fans – all said they’d wait until fixtures came out to see where Liverpool were playing.
“Genuinely, if it was any other fixture, I wouldn’t see them, but because it’s [Fulham versus Liverpool] they’re like, ‘ah yeah we can come and see you now!’ That annoyed me!
“But no, I’m made up. All my family and friends are Liverpool fans so the game means a little bit extra.
“It’s win-win for them. Maybe their ideal scenario would be 3-2 to Liverpool but I score two! I’m sure they’ll be supporting me.”
Fulham go into the 2022/23 Premier League on the back of one of the best seasons in our history, so does Robinson feel we’re in a better place than we were two years ago?
“I’d say so. A lot of the boys were in that Premier League season and felt what it was like going down, and have worked to come back up.
“It means a lot more to us, going through all that, to make sure we do stay in the league this time.
“Obviously we go into every game playing the style of football that we like to play, hopefully entertaining the fans.
“But it’s a points game, we want to win as many games as possible, stay up, and then build from there. And then next year, try and improve from the last season.
“I’d say a successful season definitely starts with staying up.”
