Mikel Arteta makes Martin Odegaard claim ahead of Newcastle as Arsenal challenge clear

Despite Arsenal’s poor record at St James’ Park, Mikel Arteta has been bullish in response to questions over his side’s capacity to secure a vital win on Sunday afternoon.

Having lost four of the last five trips to Newcastle, many have questioned whether there is a mental block in the way for the Gunners that they must overcome. Arteta vehemently disagrees.

“No,” he said. “Because we have won and we have lost as well. The last few results down there, they could have been very different.

“When we played the second game of the semi-final, after two minutes, Martin Odegaard is in front of us, he scores that goal, we’re talking about something else. It's going to be those moments that we need to be clinical and efficient to win those games.”

Odegaard has been missing since suffering a second shoulder injury in as many home matches this season, but Arteta confirmed he would have trained on Friday and Saturday before the trip, which he feels is all he needs to be in contention to start.

“Martin certainly has the capacity not to do too much and not to train too much and go in two days and perform at the highest level because he's naturally a super gifted, fit player," Arteta said.

Odegaard would be a welcome return and one that might revive the midfield three alongside Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi in place of Mikel Merino, who many see as the Gunners’ best.

“We're going to be trying to be as dominant as we possibly can always, with a lot of attacking players and attacking threat," Arteta admitted. "To create that threat from various ways, because it's not only one way, it's a lot of ways that we can hurt them, and we're going to try it in different ways.”

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