Martin Odegaard: It’s harder for us this term – but I like a challenge

If there is a crisis crackling at Arsenal then Martin Odegaard, sitting in the directors’ lounge at the top of the Emirates Stadium, does a good job hiding it. In his joggers and trainers, you could easily mistake him for another member of the public and, as he talks through Arsenal’s recent dip in form, many do. Groups of tourists file past on stadium tours, headsets on, eyes peeled, all blissfully unaware that they are walking past the Arsenal captain.

And yet beyond the relaxed exterior, Arsenal are in the midst of a slump, the doubts creeping in again after a miserable Christmas period that brought one win in five Premier League matches. They play Liverpool in the FA Cup on Sunday, in need of some joy and reassurance after five goals in six games and consecutive defeats by West Ham United and Fulham. “The Fulham game, yeah, that was not a good game from us,” says Odegaard. “I don’t think it was anywhere near the standards we’ve set ourselves or the performances we’ve shown this season.”

The problem for challengers in the Pep Guardiola era is that even little blips can be damaging. Being fourth, five points behind Liverpool after 20 games is no disaster. Being level on points with Manchester City, who often surge in the second half of the season, have a game in hand, and are about to welcome back Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, feels somehow less retrievable.

Odegaard’s side have endured a difficult festive programme, sliding from top of the league on Christmas Day to fourth after back-to-back defeats

REUTERS

More than that, though, Arsenal are just not clicking as they once did. Their attacking numbers are still good — for chances, shots and expected goals — but opponents are finding it easier to contain them and Odegaard can feel it. “After what we did last season and the beginning of this season, teams are analysing us and looking at what we’re doing in games,” he says. “They’re trying to stop us playing to our strengths. When I first came here in my first season and even at the start of last season the games we played were more open because teams wanted to come here and attack us and press high.

“It’s also about our quality, we make teams play deep because we have the ball a lot, but some teams are adapting as well. They know our strengths so a lot of teams are defending deep and trying to make it hard for us. I like that challenge. It’s a good sign to feel like teams are coming here and showing that they respect you. We just have to find different spaces and to play well enough to deal with it.”

For Odegaard, the challenge is particularly pronounced, given his role as the creative nerve centre of this Arsenal team, whose brilliance was so central to their success last term. As defences double their attention, and markers, on him and Bukayo Saka, they each have to find new ways to break through. “I do like that challenge,” he says. “I like when I have to think about my game, think about the other team and what they’re doing: how will they defend me? How can I find spaces? I see it as a good thing when you know teams will come here and try to make it hard for us.”

In many ways, Liverpool are a model for Arsenal to follow, not just in the way they finally overhauled City with patience and perseverance under Jürgen Klopp but in their tactical approach too. For all the scrutiny on Gabriel Jesus, Liverpool won the Premier League and Champions League with Roberto Firmino up front, another pressing forward in the Jesus mould whose role was to enhance the threat of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané either side of him.

Jesus’s modest tally of three league goals this season has invited criticism but Odegaard’s fondness for his team-mate remains – “you see the quality Gabi has, it’s unbelievable”

REX

Can Saka and Gabriel Martinelli reach those levels? The alternative is that Arsenal pivot to an elite and expensive scorer, like Brentford’s Ivan Toney. “It’s not just about Gabi [Jesus], it’s about the whole team making sure we score enough goals and that we create enough chances for each other,” says Odegaard. “But you see the quality Gabi has in training every day, it’s unbelievable. What he’s doing for the team, it’s more than just the goals — he creates so much for us, he takes attention off the defenders, he takes the ball down and uses it in good positions, he’s so good in the combinations as well. He’s a top, top player, I really love playing with him.”

Responding to setbacks has been a theme of Odegaard’s career. He struggled with the hype of joining Real Madrid as a 16-year-old boy and was sidelined by Zinedine Zidane despite a superb season on loan at Real Sociedad. “I’ve been through a lot of tough moments,” he says. “The main thing is I always believed in myself. I always knew I was going to strike back.

Odegaard made the headlines after moving to Real aged 16 but struggled to live up to the hype at a club notorious for its high expectations

REX

“You have to learn from those bad periods, bad moments, bad seasons, whatever, you have to just use it to get stronger. When I signed for Madrid, I came from nowhere and there was this big hype and then I didn’t play any games and I was struggling a bit, struggling with the reserve team as well. Then at Real Sociedad, I played a really good season, I came back to Madrid and I didn’t play too much and I struggled again. But that’s a part of life, it’s part of football. The main thing is how you react and I think I’ve done that pretty well in my career.”

Odegaard found a way and now, as Arsenal captain, he wants to see that same resilience from his team-mates. “The important thing is how we react and how we respond,” he says. “Sometimes you don’t have the best day at the office, you have to learn from it and come back stronger. This is the moment to show that against Liverpool.”

Arsenal will wear all white against Liverpool for the first time in a home fixture as part of the club’s No More Red campaign, helping to keep young people safe from knife crime and youth violence.

Arsenal v LiverpoolFA Cup third roundSunday 4.30pmTV BBC One