David Moyes shared an insight into what it’s like to come up against Arsenal as a manager.
The former West Ham United boss has faced the Gunners 44 times in his managerial career, most recently in February before he parted ways with the Irons.
That game ended in a 6-0 win for Mikel Arteta’s side at the London Stadium, leaving Moyes with a bitter taste in his mouth when it comes to battling Arsenal.
From managing West Ham to Everton to Manchester United, the Scotsman has duelled a host of Arsenal sides, with one player standing out as one of the toughest to prepare to play against.
David Moyes praises Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard
Moyes was recently a guest on the Football Daily podcast, where he dissected the action from match day 10 of the Premier League campaign.
When discussing Arsenal’s defeat to Newcastle United, players missing from Arteta’s squad came into conversation, leading Moyes to share his opinion on Martin Odegaard.
“He is such an intelligent player, he makes such a difference on how Arsenal play,” Moyes said.
“Playing against them [Arsenal] over the past few years, Odegaard was always the main player and always the one that was a real problem to deal with.”
The ex-Hammers boss admitted that his former side had a problem player to deal with in the Arsenal skipper, whose absence has uncovered his deep importance in Arteta’s squad.
Arsenal team news: Odegaard injury update
Having been out of action since the September international break, Arteta has seen first-hand just how difficult it is to adapt his game plan without Odegaard.
As a result, the Gunners’ form has dipped, failing to win any of their previous three Premier League fixtures, something that Moyes commented on when discussing the Arsenal captain.
“I think Mikel will be looking at it and saying I have to win games without this player. You could lose him again for any reason. Even when you bring him back after a semi-lengthy injury, you might expect him not to be at his best right away.”
Moyes is right, with one of Arsenal’s glaring problems at present being that they aren’t doing enough going forward to win games without Odegaard, stressing the importance of having him back.
Fortunately, there’s hope that Odegaard could return against Inter Milan, as Martin Keown shared during TNT Sports’ coverage of the Gunners’ defeat to Newcastle.
With one point from a possible nine in their previous three, Arsenal have to turn things around promptly and hopefully, Arteta will soon have his captain to assist them.
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