Martin Ødegaard is relishing the “heat” of Arsenal’s rivalry with Manchester City and is ready to put his friendship with Erling Haaland to one side when the teams meet on Sunday.
Ødegaard was injured for the bad-tempered 2-2 draw at City in September when Haaland, his Norway teammate, confronted Mikel Arteta at the final whistle and told the Arsenal manager to “stay humble”. Haaland scored the first goal but City needed a late John Stones strike to rescue a point against a team they have not defeated in their past four meetings. Arsenal have finished as runners-up to City in the past two seasons and Ødegaard is expecting an extra edge to proceedings.
