Birthday boy Odegaard on Brighton test

Every home game, Martin Odegaard gives you his thoughts on the goings-on around the club in his captain’s notes for the matchday programme. 

Ahead of today’s game against Brighton & Hove Albion, the birthday boy discusses the threat of the Seagulls, bouncing back from the loss at Aston Villa and our European display in midweek.

I don’t think I’ve ever played a match on my birthday before, not since I was a kid anyway probably, so it’s a new one for me. Hopefully we can make it one to remember this afternoon. 

Ever since I’ve been in England, Brighton have always been one of the strong teams, always fighting in the top half of the table, and again this season they have shown their qualities and how dangerous they can be. We need to be ready for another tough game against another tough opposition today. 

It will be a good challenge and I think it could be similar to the games we’ve played lately because there will be a lot of man-to-man situations. They are a very good team in possession, they know their system well, but for us we have to win to stay in the fight at the top of the table. We know Brighton as a side that plays good football and are very intense. They play on the front foot, their movement is always very effective, and they like to put you under pressure with their high press. 

They have quality throughout the team, and also with Brighton you always know there will be a lot of energy from them off the ball. All over the pitch they put their plans in place, so we’ll have to be alive tactically today as well. 

As we know the games come really quickly at this time of year, but the good side of that as well is that it gives you the opportunity to get over disappointments like we had last weekend against Villa. That was a really frustrating result, and as I said afterwards, I think we deserved more from the game. Of course we should have done better in front of goal, but it was an annoying day all round, and it hurts whenever you lose.

We played just a few days after the Villa game, away to PSV, and that was a good opportunity for some of the players who haven’t been as involved lately. In the end, I think a draw is a good result against a strong team, and lots of the players who came in did well. I was so pleased for Eddie to get his goal, it was a brilliant finish and some good work from Cedric and Reiss in the build-up too. Eddie will take more confidence from his goal, he’s always dangerous in those positions, and the other players coming in showed their qualities too. It’s very promising for the competition in the squad.

I also wanted to pass on my congratulations to the youth team, who had a great result in the FA Youth Cup last weekend, and also the women’s team, getting a great win over Chelsea in front of another record crowd here. These results add to a great feeling at London Colney and all around the club, and hopefully we can do our bit today as well.

Read the rest of Martin’s notes, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying a copy of the Arsenal v Brighton programme either around the stadium or online

You can also subscribe to get every issue this season delivered straight to your door each matchday.

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