Martin Odegaard has now revealed the secret behind the recent success that Arsenal have had in front of goal.
Arsenal club captain Martin Odegaard has now opened up about the tactical change that Mikel Arteta made to inspire the Gunners’ recent goal glut.
At times this season the Gunners have struggled to find the back of the net. In clashes with Liverpool and West Ham United, amongst others, Arteta’s side wound up dropping points despite having created more than enough chances to earn a victory.
In recent weeks, however, Arsenal have rediscovered their clinical edge. In their last two matches combined, the north London club have scored 11 times without conceding once. First, Arsenal achieved a club-record 6-0 win against West Ham United at the London Stadium. Then, away from the Emirates Stadium again, they put 5 past Burnley last time out.
Odegaard has played a huge role in this sudden surge in goalscoring form himself. He found the back of the net against Burnley, and against West Ham he produced an extraordinarily creative performance.
However, the Norwegian playmaker insists that Arteta deserves credit for these goal-frenzies, as the way he has set his Arsenal side up has allowed them to become more prolific. As quoted by The Standard, the 25-year-old midfielder said, “I think that’s what we were missing a little bit in the last few weeks before the break – we created so much but we didn’t score the goals. But within the last few games, we’ve been brilliant in front of goal. We get so many people in the box and so many situations around the box. So yeah, it’s been brilliant.”
“Last game was great performance and yeah we played really good again. We just have to keep going like this, there’s a long way to go and we can still improve a lot of things. I think that’s the mindset. We just want to keep going and keeping improvement.”
Martin Odegaard looks ahead to Arsenal’s Champions League challenge
Getting more players in the box has clearly done wonders for Arsenal, and beyond Odegaard and Arteta, plenty of credit is owed to Leandro Trossard on Kai Havertz. The absence of the injured Gabriel Jesus has allowed that pair to strike up an effective partnership, and both players have been noticeably more effective and present in the final third in the current system they are playing in together. Jesus has even been warned that the form of Trossard could keep him out of the Arsenal team on a long-term basis.
Arsenal’s next fixture will see them take on Porto on Wednesday evening, in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 knockout tie. Arteta has already warned his players that they cannot afford to take the threat that the Portuguese club pose lightly. However, the Gunners will certainly be favourites heading into that clash, and will be aiming to keep their impressive goalscoring exploits going.
Odegaard has had his say on what Arsenal can expect when they travel to Portugal. The former Real Madrid man said, “Champions League is a massive one, so we are excited for it. We just want to focus on ourselves each game, keep improving every game and we will see how it goes. We are in a good moment now. We have to use that momentum, keep building on it and we will see.”
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