Arsenal captaincy meeting as Martin Odegaard questioned after Declan Rice footage

Arsenal endured a frustrating game against Wolves despite taking all three points from the game to maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League table.

A meeting held among the Arsenal squad last summer resulted in a unanimous verdict on Martin Odegaard becoming the club captain.

In the aftermath of the disappointing performance, if not result, against Wolves at the weekend, there has been some talk among fans over a potential captaincy change.

Arsenal scraped past bottom side Wolves 2-1, but had to rely on two own goals, the second coming in the 94th minute to do so. Odegaard was a second half substitute for the match after recovering from injury.

But it was the actions of Declan Rice at full-time that have led to some suggesting that he should get the armband. As the players made their way off the pitch, a clip shared on social media shows Rice clearly looking frustrated at the performance, despite the result.

He is approached by teammate Gabriel Magalhaes. The two share a brief word, with Rice gesturing, before Gabriel gives him a pat on the back and the midfielder continued towards the tunnel.

The reaction outlines the standards that he has set for both himself and his teammates, qualities that show he could thrive as captain.

That’s not to say that Odegaard is doing a bad job. The Norwegian currently has the armband and is influential in a different way that makes him an effective leader.

Just after announcing him taking on the captaincy, Mikel Arteta outlined those qualities.

"Martin has got hundreds of qualities and everybody who has come across him will notice them very quickly," he said at the time.

"The biggest one is that to be named captain, to be respected and especially admired by somebody, he doesn't need to shout. That's a massive quality. A lot of people talk and shout, and then when you close the door, they do something very different.

"Martin doesn't need to open his mouth and everybody says 'he's my captain, I want him to represent, I trust him 100 per cent, he's the guy I want to have next to me.'"

The Arsenal boss then outlined the feeling of the camp after the meeting to decide the captain. "By a mile, by a big, big 100 marks, everybody chose the same person, which is Martin Odegaard, which is the most clear sign that you can have, how they feel about who has to be their captain to defend, improve and win the matches that we want to win.

“So, I mean, there's no question about that."

When Odegaard is not available, Arsenal have a leadership group of four other people who can take on the role. Those four reportedly are Bukayo Saka, Rice, Gabriel and Mikel Merino.

During Odegaard’s recent injury, it has mainly been Saka with the armband.