Martin Odegaard proved why he's club captain after the midfielder was spotted consoling Bukayo Saka during Arsenal's clash against West Ham. The Gunners launched out of the blocks at the London Stadium and quickly notched a healthy lead, with goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard.
Mikel Arteta's side quickly lost their foothold on the tie after Said Benrahma tucked away a penalty just before the break. Then, shortly into the second-half, the north Londoners were granted the chance to reclaim their two-goal advantage after Michail Antonio was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box.
Bukayo Saka was trusted with the responsibility of converting from 12-yards but, with the weight of the club's title hopes on his shoulders, the forward missed the target. The Hale End graduate's head dropped in despair but Odegaard was the first on the scene to console him.
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The Arsenal captain ran up to Saka and patted him on the neck. Just minutes later, the Hammers piled on the misery and Jarrod Bowen levelled proceedings.
Speaking to the press after the game, Arteta was asked how Saka will bounce back from such a devastating moment. The Gunners boss said: "The same way the team has to respond because if you do, the 3-1 you have to win the match and maybe you win by a bigger margin and we’re not discussing what we are here.
"So you have to put everything into context. If you are prepared to take responsibility of penalties, you have to be prepared that in that package the possibility to miss is 100%.
"At some point you’re going to miss. That’s it. You have be able to react to that after. If you cannot do that then you cannot be a penalty taker. Bukayo has been through that and he will go through that again."
Then, when quizzed on whether complacency has crept into the dressing room, Arteta said: "Easy to do it from outside the pitch. You have to be a player, you have to feel it there and we have to understand those emotions as well.
"We need that ruthless mindset in those moments to go and kill a team. When the game is there for the killing you have to do it. Today we haven’t done it.
"When you don’t do that in the Premier League at some stage it’s gonna turn around with the momentum and then you have to defend, for example, the second goal much better than we did. If not you don’t win the game."
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