2 hours ago
2
Martin Odegaard wants to get the best out of Viktor Gyokeres after returning from injury for Arsenal.
The captain played 90 minutes for the first time since the Premier League opening weekend against Olympiacos in the Champions League on Wednesday. Odegaard came back from a three-match absence as a late substitute in the 2-1 win over Newcastle United, and both of Arsenal's goals came after his introduction.
Mikel Merino 's equaliser came within two minutes of the Norway international coming on as a substitute for Martin Zubimendi. Odegaard then went on to assist Gabriel Magalhaes for the 96th-minute winner from a corner.
Four days later, manager Mikel Arteta started his skipper for the first time in two and a half weeks, and the playmaker effectively assisted both Arsenal goals against the perennial Greek champions. He played the ball through to Gyokeres before Gabriel Martinelli eventually turned home the striker's saved shot after it deflected off the post.
Odegaard then played a similarly defence-splitting pass to Bukayo Saka as the substitute doubled Arsenal's advantage in the second minute of stoppage time. Afterwards, the returning creator-in-chief spoke about his role during an interview with TNT Sports.
"That's what I want to do, especially when you have those players up front and especially with Viktor [Gyokeres], he's so aggressive and always starts, always a threat.
"That's my job, to create things for them. In the end, I got the assist; I could have had a few more and scored a goal, but we got the win, and it was good, so I enjoyed it."
Odegaard added: "You have to play what you see. Sometimes the game requires you to take more touches, and sometimes fewer.
"You have to read the game, and they may have pressed us a little bit more than the teams normally do in the Premier League. That leaves more space behind, and when you have players like Viktor up front, you have to feed him, and I thought we did that quite well today, and we have to keep going and keep building on this."
Arteta spoke highly of his returning captain during his post-match press conference. "He's got all the licence in the world to go forward, Martin, and to play with that freedom and to play with that level of threat, especially, not only with the passes, but the way he was taking the ball, carrying the ball, making runs, and arriving in really dangerous areas," the manager said.
"I think he put three people through today to score a goal; he should have scored a goal as well, so great to have him back. He played some very good minutes in Newcastle to help us win the game, and I think today he was phenomenal."
Arteta added: "We have to play in our qualities, and we have a front three with that pace as well, with those timings in the runs, and we have plays we can activate, and we have to do that 100 per cent. He did it in Newcastle a few times in 15 minutes, and that's a game that I want from him."
The manager also said: "I think that creativity part is his nature, so it doesn't bring any pressure to him because it's his best ability to generate things that not a lot of players can do. He has total freedom from my side to do and to explore and to tailor his content and to feel the moment and where he needs to generate those spaces, and I think he's certainly done that in the last two games."
Arteta also spoke about the performance of Gyokeres: "What I sense is that he's doing better and better things every game, and today he was denied a few times on one of the blocks, and then he hit the post, but I think overall his performance was exceptional. Again, his work was really good, and yeah, we want him to be scoring goals, but if he doesn't do that, at least to do everything as he's doing for the team, because he's helping the team a lot."
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
English (US) ·