Martin Odegaard has urged Arsenal to hold up their end of the bargain on the final day to ensure they finish the Premier League season with no regrets, whatever the outcome of their title shootout with Manchester City.
City just need to beat West Ham at the Etihad to pip Arsenal to the title, but Odegaard says stranger things have happened ahead of what could be a dramatic finale to the season on Sunday.
The Gunners will kick off two points behind City and must beat Everton at Emirates Stadium if they are to have any chance of winning the Premier League for the first time in 20 years.
“We have to keep the focus on ourselves, keep the spirit high and keep believing,” said Odegaard. “We have to make sure we do our job. I think the task is clear now: if we win, and Manchester City don’t, then it’s all for us.
“The only thing we can do is focus on ourselves, win our game and then we will see where that takes us. Anything can happen in football, we’ve seen stranger things happen before so the main thing is to focus on our game and just look at it as another game we have to win.
“That’s all we can do, we can’t control anything else. It’s down to us to ensure we have a good end to the season, finish with a win at home and then we’ll see. There is just one game left, let’s go and win it.”
Arsenal hope Sunday could be a historic occasion on a day when the club will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their unbeaten Premier League season in 2003-04.
Members of the Invincibles squad and manager Arsene Wenger have been invited to Emirates Stadium. Odegaard says it will mean a lot to the squad to have so many Arsenal legends present, and he hopes to pick their brains before the game.
“Everybody knows what they did, and we’ve all seen the stories and the games from that time,” he said. “It means a lot, it’s a massive part of the history of the club. It’s nice to have them there on the day, hopefully I will get the chance to speak to them and learn a bit from them!”
Arteta will hope to have a fully-fit squad to choose from for the finale.
Bukayo Saka limped off against Manchester United last weekend after he aggravated a cut on his leg when he fell off the pitch at Old Trafford, but he is understood to have recovered.
Martin Odegaard speaks exclusively in every Arsenal matchday programme, available to buy online at programme.arsenal.com
