Mikel Arteta confirmed that Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard suffered an injury during the Gunners’ shocking 2-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa on Sunday.
In the 79th minute, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger stirred eyebrows by replacing Odegaard with teammate Emile Smith Rowe. Arsenal fans quickly speculated on the reason for Arteta’s decision, but it has since been revealed that the Arsenal captain ‘felt something’ in the closing stages.
Odegaard, 25, was substituted at 0-0, and Villa struck twice in quick succession to send shockwaves through the Premier League. After the game, Arteta was asked about taking the Norwegian midfielder off and said, “He was feeling something.” He couldn’t continue.”
When pressed to clarify the matter, the Arsenal boss refused to say anything more, leaving fans wondering whether Odegaard will be available for Wednesday’s thrilling Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich. The Gunners will travel to Germany for the second leg with everything to play for, having drawn 2-2 with the Bundesliga giants when Harry Kane and his teammates visited the Emirates last week.
Arteta sees the trip as an ideal opportunity for Arsenal to rebound from Sunday’s defeat, which puts them at the mercy of Manchester City in the Premier League title chase with six games remaining. “We can’t control [City]. What we can control is that when we have a run like we did, when you win, win, win, it’s simple,” the Spaniard added.
“The moment is now. After this blow, it’s how we react. We have the best opportunity to react against Bayern Munich on Wednesday. The team has to show it. If you want to win, you have to overcome these situations. With the games we had, this was going to happen. It is now about how we react. This is in our control.”
Your turn! Could Arsenal beat Bayern Munich without Martin Odegaard? Give us your verdict in the comments section.
Odegaard was unable to finish the match due to injury ( Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Arteta also called on his players to show character and become leaders – and they’ll especially need to if Odegaard spends any time on the sidelines. “If one result is going to do that [damage confidence] then we are not strong enough, that’s very simple,” he stated.
“We had one of the best performances in the first half that we had this season by far against a really good team, it should have been three or four or more. It didn’t happen in the second half, momentum shifted, we could not control and generate what we did in the first half.
“We struggled, we conceded two very poor goals and we lost the game so congratulations to the opponent and now is the moment to stand up as a leader, as a character to make yourself count because when you win and win and win and win for four months, it’s very simple to do it. The moment is now.”
