In last season’s Premier League, Fulham managed to secure a 2-1 win over Arsenal. The result proved costly for Mikel Arteta’s side as Marco Silva’s men dashed their hopes of finishing at the top of the 2023 table, let alone losing out the title to Manchester City by inches for the second consecutive time. Even though goals from Raúl Jiménez and Bobby De Cordova-Reid rendered Bukayo Saka’s early strike in vain, one can’t forget to highlight how Antonee Robinson played a crucial role in dominating a ‘pound-for-pound’ Saka.

As they say, everyone has a chink in their armor, the sensational English winger too had a weak point after all which the USMNT defender was able to pick up on. Often, Robinson has been witnessed using his pace as the best attribute when defending one-on-one. However, things are different when the situation is close, especially with a player like Saka, who loves to dribble around the close areas. But Antonee manages to do the job anyway.

In the following game, there was a moment when Robinson tracked Saka’s move inside, delivered a shoulder charge, and successfully won the ball. For those wondering, yes, it’s actually a once-in-a-blue-moon situation. “That’s an incredibly rare occurrence because Saka is crazy strong. He’s one of the strongest players, pound for pound, that I’ve played against,” admitted a puffy-cheeked Antonee while analyzing his game with the Athletic.

Though it made him happy, Saka got his revenge later in another physical duel during the game, almost proving Robinson’s point. In between, there were a couple of quick moments where the left-back had to defend one-on-one against the winger near the touchline, close to the corner flag. Robinson guided Saka down the line, forcing him onto his weaker right foot. In the first instance, Saka still managed to cross, albeit it was overhit.

On the second try, Saka went the same way, and this time Robinson blocked it. Even if it seemed Robinson defended better the second time because he stopped the cross, the 27-year-old doesn’t see it that way. “I know Saka’s very good on his left foot. If I show him down the line and he manages to get a cross in… I’d obviously like to block it, but if he’s crossing on his right foot and that’s the worst-case scenario, that’s fine.”

“Next one you kind of know how he’s going to be shaped when he goes that way (again), so I can close it down a little bit better. But if I show him on his right every time and half of them he crosses and half of them he doesn’t, it’s a lot better than him cutting in on his left to pick a ball properly or shooting,” concluded Robinson.

It’s too bad Antonee easily gave away Bukayo’s weakness, which the Arsenal superstar himself wasn’t aware of. Nonetheless, we feel Robinson will find a way to manage the winger in his next potential face-off, thanks to his speed!

A Premier League rival once swore Antonee Robinson to just stop running!

As mentioned before, Antonee Robinson has a pace that not many are blessed with. And when using it in an intense atmosphere like a typical Premier League game, others will surely get fed up with it. Similar was the incident during a clash between Fulham and Newcastle, as Robinson left Jacob Murphy frustrated!

“I remember playing Newcastle, not this last game (this season), but a couple of games ago and Jacob Murphy was playing and he was like, ‘F****** hell, lad — stop running!’”

A wee bit causal to underline Robinson’s remarkable quality but you get the gist! Zoooomm…..there goes Antonee running!