Last season, when Martin Ødegaard was out injured for a while, the level of Arsenal’s play dropped noticeably. This season, the captain has been out for several rounds, but this time Arsenal have managed to keep the momentum up. Against Bournemouth, Ødegaard is again looking for a bang against Sporting, Mikel Arteta takes the opportunity to stress that without Ødegaard, Arsenal cannot be compared to the game with the captain on the pitch.
“I think he has had a very difficult season in terms of the days he has missed and the number of games, which is very unusual for him,” Arteta began at Saturday’s press conference.
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“He is a player who needs that rhythm, and who needs to be very connected to the team. And it’s not just him who has missed that opportunity, but the team has also missed him,” the Arsenal man continues.
“There’s so much of what he brings that probably goes unnoticed by the public, or that generally doesn’t show up in those stats, but that runs much deeper within the team and into the identity of this team. He is the one who binds everyone together, who sews everything together, and who makes the team flow in a way no one else can. That is a tremendous quality to have. We need him at his best and we need him constantly with us, because we are a much better team with Martin in and around the squad,” Arteta concluded.
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Martiin Ødegaard is still the only one for the Arsenal manager.
