On the back of his second goal for Wolves, Jorgen Strand Larsen says the Old Gold must have no fear when they take on Manchester City on Sunday.
The Norwegian, who will face his compatriot Erling Haaland at Molineux, has now scored home and away for his new club, and is hungry to help Wolves achieve their first three points of the campaign. Settled in his new surroundings, following the summer move from Celta Vigo, Strand Larsen feels he’s adapting to the Premier League well and has faith that Wolves’ form will turn soon.
On settling in at Wolves
“It's always difficult to come to a new club, a new culture, with new people to meet and get to know, but it's been nice. We've been traveling around the world. We've been in America and Spain, so it's been a nice start. We haven't started well, but there’s still 31 games to play, and we can't wait to get our first three points.
“Both leagues [Premier League and La Liga] are really, really good. Tactically and technically there’s no huge difference between the two, but it goes faster here, you need to be on your toes. It goes a little bit quicker, and people are stronger and faster as well. So, I have to adapt as a striker. But I think it's been going well and there’s nothing that I'm scared of.”
On getting his goals
“It's been very nice. Of course, you want to score goals when you win games, it always tastes better. But as a striker, that's my job, and I'm going to continue to try to be available, be in the box, help my teammates.
“The feeling was amazing to score both home and away. It was a special feeling to score at home, of course, the first goal to get it done with, and then an away goal against Brentford, close to the away section, was also really nice. That's new for me, in Spain it's a bit different, not many away fans go to the games, and that was really nice to see how they supported us.”
On a difficult start for the team
“Every team wants to play well, win games and be at the top, but there will be tough times during the season where we're not going to win, not going to be playing well, and I think we had a really tough start against the top teams already. We couldn't take our first three points yet, but it will come. I'm tired of saying it as well, but there’s so many games to play, and I believe so much in this team and this coaching staff, and the whole group, so I'm not scared of that.
“You know Man City will probably have a lot of the ball. They're a good team, they dominate against most of the teams in the league, but we will not go out there and be scared. We will go out and play our football. We create a good atmosphere at home. We can play really good offensive football and a few details can make the game even harder for Man City. We can win it. They did it last season, so why not?”
On the Norwegians in the Premier League
“I’d been speaking with them before my transfer and we've had a few chats lately in the national team about how it's been going. They're really good friends, all of them. Martin [Odergaard], Sander [Berge] and Erling [Haaland] have been playing for a long time, and Kristoffer [Ajer] at Brentford as well. So many of them have good advice. I was prepared and I think it's been a good start for myself.
“I already played against a few of my Norwegian friends already, so it is always nice. But as soon as you're in the game, you're in game mode, and you forget who you're playing against. We were together at the national team [him and Haaland], but we were thinking about the national team then, and he's probably preparing for us now. But he's a really good guy, and I’m looking forward to seeing him.”
On his personal goals
“You always want to score as many as you can as a striker, that's what you're thinking about most of the time. It's to settle in, get to know the league, be able to do my job here, which is to score goals, but also help the team in different ways. And I that's the player I am, and that's the player I want to be, so hopefully I can continue to do.”
