Martin Odegaard admitted Arsenal used the pain of being beaten 4-1 by Manchester City in their previous game to humble Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium.
The Norwegian playmaker struck two vital first half goals to help Arsenal cruise to a 3-1 win over their London rivals on Tuesday night, with Gabriel Jesus scoring the third. The victory puts the Gunners back on top in the Premier League table, albeit possibly only for 24 hours as City face West Ham on Wednesday.
Pep Guardiola’s side remain the favourites to win a third successive league crown, sitting two points behind Arsenal with two games in hand as it stands.
However, Odegaard’s interview with Sky Sports after the game shows Arsenal are still in the fight, after showing a far better ‘spirit’ to beat Chelsea.
He said: “I think especially the first half was brilliant. We came out and we showed a different spirit, different team to last time basically. The second half was a bit messy, I would say, but very happy with the first half and three points – a good win for us. We needed this one.”
On being motivated by the defeat to City, Odegaard said: “Yes, I think so, everyone was hurt after the game and we used this anger and disappointment to go into this game and really bounce back.
“You can lose games but the way we lost, we didn’t really play our game and we weren’t ourselves. That’s the most painful thing and that’s why we wanted to show a different side today and we all did that.”
"We have to fight, we will believe until the end!" 💪
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 2, 2023
Martin Odegaard is magic 🪄 pic.twitter.com/OjX41Opg9H
Odegaard’s brace took his league tally to 14 this season and he became the third Arsenal player to surpass 20 goal contributions (goals and assists) this Premier League campaign.
“I just try to help the team,” he added, while recognising Granit Xhaka for his two assists.
“This year I’ve been scoring more goals and Granit with two good balls as well, so it’s about being in the right area.
“Granit attacked the space and it’s about being in the right area and try to hit the goal. After [the first goal] we got the momentum and controlled everything.”
