Arteta explains how injuries disrupted Odegaard last season and reveals why he expects his captain to reach another level after Arsenal’s statement win.
Mikel Arteta believes Martin Ødegaard is primed for a major response this season after Arsenal’s captain inspired a commanding 3-0 Community Shield victory over Manchester City in Cardiff.
The Arsenal manager explained how injuries had prevented Ødegaard from building momentum last season, but said he has already sensed a renewed determination from the Norwegian as the Premier League champions began their season with silverware.
Ødegaard capped an outstanding team performance by scoring Arsenal’s third goal early in the second half after Riccardo Calafiori had struck inside 23 seconds and Kai Havertz doubled the lead before the interval.
The captain could have finished with two goals after seeing another effort cleared off the line by Josko Gvardiol, as Arsenal comfortably outplayed City to lift the first trophy of the new campaign.
Arteta believes supporters are now set to see the best of his skipper again after an injury-hit season.
“Well, he missed five or six months for different things and it was extremely difficult for him to get any momentum, so I’m sure this year if we can maintain him fit, available with the players around him, we’re going to see a very different Martin,” Arteta told reporters after the match.
“And I sense from the first day that he joined that he has something else in the belly that he wants to prove and show, because the team needs it as well.”
The Arsenal manager was naturally delighted with both the performance and the result against one of the club’s biggest rivals.
“Well, I’m obviously extremely happy with the performance, the results and winning the first trophy,” Arteta said.
“We talked about the desire that we have to start the season and to show ourselves how much we want it and I certainly saw a lot of positive things there against a top opponent.”
Ødegaard’s goal arrived after another influential contribution from summer signing Christos Tzolis, whose second assist of the afternoon allowed the Norwegian to sit Gianluigi Donnarumma on his arse before finishing clinically.
Arteta was equally enthusiastic about the winger’s impact after another impressive display.
“Well, what I said last week, I think he’s coming into the team really organically, he’s fit in, he’s a really intelligent boy and he has a massive quality which is when he’s in the last 20-30 metres he’s so composed to pick people in and around the box or to finish actions and he’s shown that again two or three times and he was decisive.
“He has better players around him, you put him in more and more situations so the volume is higher with the level of quality that he has, the numbers will be higher, he’s so eager to learn, to improve, to practise and it’s not a coincidence, he’s a really consistent player in everything that he does and I’m really impressed with him.”
Arteta also praised Calafiori after the defender’s record-breaking early goal helped set the tone for Arsenal’s dominant victory.
“I think he can be a total player. I mean, we can ask him to occupy certain areas of the pitch and when he gets in and around the box he has this intuition, his timing to create goals, to score goals, but at the same time we ask him, you know, the defensive duties that he has.
“And we ask him because he’s capable of doing it, he knows how to do it and we maintain to keep him fit and available and with that physical condition, I mean, he’s a top player.”
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