Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard’s ruthless admission on what’s happened to him this season

The Arsenal captain has shone in both of the last two seasons but hasn’t hit his own high standards this term and admits he’s been “nowhere near” his best

Martin Odegaard says he does not need anyone to tell him he has “not been good enough” this season.

Odegaard has been the driving force of Arsenal’s previous two title charges but admitted that he has fallen below his own standards this time.

Arsenal captain Odegaard is well down on goals, assists and his form has been highlighted by Sky pundit Paul Merson who says the Norway midfielder has been “nowhere near” his best.

Odegaard has managed just two goals in the Premier League this season whereas he got eight last season and 15 the previous year. He has got just three assists this time whereas he got into double figures last year. It is a major factor in why Arsenal have fallen behind Liverpool in the title race but Odegaard says he is determined to get back to his best and has refused to give up on chasing down Liverpool.

There were glimpses of Odegaard at his best in Arsenal’s 7-1 win at PSV Eindhoven and they will aim to carry that form into Sunday’s visit to Manchester United.

Odegaard said: “I’m very used to people speaking about me, judging my performances and I think I do the myself. I’m harder on myself and I know that I have not been good enough especially in front of goal so that’s normal.

“I work hard every day to improve it and I know I have the ability and the talent to do it. PSV Eindhoven was good and hopefully now I can do more towards the end of the season. There’s always more to play for at the end of the season but every game in this league is so important from the start to the end.

“Hopefully we can – like last year – hit the top form towards the end and then we’ll see where that takes us in the league and also in the Champions League.”

Odegaard says that Arsenal’s players will have to continue to share the goals around in the absence of their inured strike force. Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have all been missing. He is taking it upon himself to “step up” in their absence as he scored twice and assisted in the win at PSV. They shared the goals around in last season’s run-in and wants the same again.

Odegaard said: “I think that’s key. With the players we have out as well, the rest of us as players have to step up even more and I think it’s a good thing we can share the goals and hopefully we can keep doing that.”

The Norway captain is also refusing to give up on catching Liverpool and says the last two seasons should have taught Arsenal – who led the title race only to blow big leads – that it is not over until it is over.

He said: “We’ll fight until the end. That’s the mindset of everyone. We’ve been fighting three years in a row for the title and you go a couple of years back then we were leading with a lot of points and then we finished second.

“It shows that everything is possible and the main thing is to keep going, keep working hard and day-by-day get better in the games and then we’ll see. We’ve put ourselves in a difficult position at the moment but we have to keep going, we have to try to win every time we play and then we’ll see what happens with Liverpool.”

Arsenal have had mixed fortunes against Manchester United, beating them in the Premier League but they were knocked out on penalties in the FA Cup. Odegaard missed a penalty in the 90 minutes to win it for Arsenal.

But United have endured a rollercoaster season under Ruben Amorim and Odegaard warned they still carry a huge threat at Old Trafford.

He added: “They’re not where they want to be in the table and it’s a big club which has struggled a little bit but, as I said before, we know the quality they have when they’re really on it and they have a lot of good individual players that we have to be ready for.

“It’s always tough when you play them. I don’t think they are where they want to be in the table but we know the quality they have when they play at their best. They have a lot of individual quality and when they play as a team, it’s challenging to play them.

“It’s a big challenge for us and we have to take the good feelings now from this game and what we did – especially going forward – into the next game and hopefully do more of that.”

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