Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has admitted that he and the side have had to hold honest conversations over recent performances after a minor dip in results. The Gunners were unable to overcome Southampton after taking an early lead, going on to draw the game 1-1, before losing to PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League.
A 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest has been followed up by a triumph over FC Zurich in the Europa League, however the broader theme is the inability to finish teams off while they are on top. "In the Premier League, unfortunately, if you don't do that [take chances] when you are top of the game, you can have some difficulties," Mikel Arteta said after the recent draw at St. Mary's.
While that will be a frustration, it also points to the recent upturn in standards set by the Spaniard since taking charge at the club. The side could easily be happy with where they are, sitting top of the Premier League and qualifying top of their Europa League group... but they aren't.
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The players know they could do more and reach higher heights, allowing them to continue to strive for better and aim for those upper reaches of football rather than being content with their situation. This was only further reflected in the comments written by Odegaard in the programme for the FC Zurich clash.
It read: "We started the game [Nottingham Forest] well again, with Gabi [Martinelli]'s goal, but what was different this time was how we killed the game off. We've been speaking about that as a group over the past few weeks. We've had a few games where we've played well in the first half but the game has changed in the second half and we've been struggling more than we want to.
"Everyone was a bit frustrated after the past few games, even after the win over Leeds, then the draw at Southampton and the defeat at PSV. Everyone was frustrated with how we performed in those games, and we needed this performance last weekend to strike back. It's a sign of how this team is developing that we have had a couple of games where we weren't at our best, yet we're still on top in the Premier League and in Europe.
"Despite that, we weren't totally happy with what we've been doing, and I think we showed that on the pitch against Nottingham Forest. We knew we had more to give and we wanted to do that."
However, more of those issues arose against FC Zurich, making for a nervy end to the game to confirm top spot in the Europa League group. It'll prove to be a lesson to take into the Chelsea clash, with their quality able to punish more so than most other sides in the division.
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