Ebbsfleet’s players are ready to embrace their favourites tag when Vanarama National League South kicks off on Saturday.

Bookmakers have the Fleet as short as 10/3 to win the division, with Havant & Waterlooville (8/1) their closest challengers in the betting market.

Defender Tom Bonner said: "We are the team everyone wants to beat. We’re favourites to win the league but that’s why you play football, for these challenges.

"It’s good to be the team to beat and all the boys are going to thrive off that pressure this year.

"That’s why we all signed here. We signed here to be successful and when teams come here, they might make it hard for us but we’ve just got to show how good we are this year."

Fleet will again look to Bonner’s former Cambridge United team-mate Adam Cunnington for goals this season.

The striker said: "It’s a tough league to get out of but we have to be striving to do that this year.

“Teams will want to come here and spoil the party. It will be a nice place to come for people, they’ll want to come and pick up points here.

"But we’ve got enough players in the squad, enough alternatives, to grind out results or play the football. We need to play in order to get the points.

"We’ve got everything in place but we can do all the talking and pretend we need to do this and that but ultimately as players, when we cross that white line, we’ve got to take some responsibility and do what we have to do."

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