ANTHONY KNOCKAERT has warned Watford fans their jibes will only spur him on as Albion look for a flying launch to their second season in the Premier League.

The Vicarage Road faithful have never let Knockaert forget the crushing disappointment he suffered with previous club Leicester.

The French winger had the chance to fire the Foxes to Wembley in the second leg of the Championship play-offs.

His 95th-minute penalty was saved by Manuel Almunia and Watford broke away for Troy Deeney to score a dramatic winner.

Knockaert, an emotional character, will be an even more conspicuous target for home supporters in Saturday’s opening fixture in Hertfordshire now that his hair is dyed blond.

But that could be counter-productive to their hopes of their team launching the campaign with a win.

Knockaert told The Argus: “I don’t really care, I don’t focus on them and what happens with the crowd.

“That story happened five or six years ago. They are still on it, that is there problem, not mine.

“If they want to boo me during the game they can do what ever they want. The only message I need to give them is they will never affect me.

“They tried many times and, to be fair, every time I played against them I’ve played well since I missed the penalty.

“I don’t know why they still do it. They give me more confidence to score and try to win against them.

“I try to win every time against them, because they are still on it and it makes me happy, gives me more ambition to win against this kind of team.”

Knockaert was left lying on the floor, head in hands, after that expensive penalty miss in May 2013.

It was a similar story at Watford last season, except the pain was more physical than mental.

Knockaert was the victim of a two-footed lunge by Miguel Britos, which led to a red card for the Watford defender and later a public apology.

Fortunately, Knockaert escaped serious injury. Albion went on to pick up their first point in the Premier League from a 0-0 draw, but it felt like a waste after playing against ten men for three-quarters of the match.

“We should have won the game,” Knockaert said. “I hit the post, Tomer (Hemed) hit the post. We had chances to score, it wasn’t to be.

“We played really well. It was only the third game and that was my first game back (from injury), so physically I wasn’t at my top level.

“We managed to do well against them last season and hopefully we can start the season really well and take the three points.”

Knockaert was restricted to the bench in the opening two defeats by Manchester City and Leicester a year ago after suffering ankle ligament damage in the first friendly in Austria against Fortuna Dusseldorf.

That set him back and he had only scored once by the time Watford were beaten at the Amex by a Pascal Gross goal just before Christmas.

A reckless red card of his own at Everton caused further disruption for Knockaert, pictured, and he ended the season with three goals and just one assist.

Pre-season has gone more smoothly this time, with Knockaert looking particularly sharp in the final warm-up against Nantes at the Amex on Friday evening.

He needs to be, as right-wing is regarded as the best position for versatile record signing Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

The Iranian World Cup wide man replaced Knockaert deep into the second half against Nantes.

Jahanbakhsh is expected to begin on the bench at Vicarage Road on his 25th birthday as he gets up to speed with his new team-mates and the challenges of the Premier League.

For Knockaert the motivation is clear, to avoid a repeat of his bit-part role with Leicester in the top flight and build on an encouraging end to last season, when he was back to approaching the form that made him the best player in the Championship.

“I took a lot of experience from last year,” Knockaert said. “I played almost every game. I will try to be more efficient this season. I know the level a bit more and I’ll use my experience from last season, try to score more goals and bring more assists.

“I know my quality. It’s all about confidence.”