Mikel Arteta would have been gutted to have witnessed his Arsenal side find it impossible to break down a stubborn Everton defence during their 0-0 draw on Saturday.
Hosting Sean Dyche’s men at the Emirates Stadium, Arteta would have expected a win at the very least.
Arsenal drew their third game out of 12 across all competitions at home this campaign.
The Gunners managed to muster up an xG (Expected Goals) of 1.42, which would have been enough to win the game as they also managed to restrict Everton to no shots on target as well.
Martin Odegaard could have fired Arsenal into a lead as he had quite a few opportunities to score.
Odegaard lauded Ethan Nwaneri as an “unbelievable player”, with the latter replacing him as early as in the 62nd minute against the Toffees.
Mikel Arteta slammed for subbing Martin Odegaard off against Everton
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta’s decision to hook the Norwegian off as early as he did against Everton was slated by Steve Nicol.
Nicol said via ESPN FC: “I’d love to know what the tactic was. You’ve got to win the game. Regardless of whether you know what’s going on at Anfield or not, it really doesn’t matter. You have to win the game.”
“And in order to win the game, you have to keep your best players on the field and if there was one player in Arsenal’s armoury today that was creating anything, it was [Martin] Odegaard. So, I’m with Craig [Burley], it was totally and utterly baffling that you take arguably, number one, your best player.”
“And your captain and you take him off the field so early. It makes no sense to me.”
Martin Keown singled out Odegaard as the Premier League’s most “important player”, considering how crucial he is to Mikel Arteta’s system.
William Saliba hailed Odegaard recently as well by claiming “he’s top three in the world” and a player who improved Arsenal as a team.
Bukayo Saka expressed his joy at Odegaard’s return from injury as well, as it has been well-documented how important he is to this Gunners side.
What Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said about taking Odegaard off
After Arsenal’s draw against Everton, Mikel Arteta revealed that his reason for taking the midfield maestro off was purely a tactical decision.
“With Martin especially, it was a tactical decision to try to change their rhythm, especially on that side.”
Mikel Arteta was also quizzed whether Odegaard had suffered a “fitness issue” and he promptly replied:
“No, no, no.”
All Arteta can do is ensure that his Arsenal side win their next game against Crystal Palace in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup.
In the meantime, the Spaniard will be trying to analyse why his side have dropped four points in their last two league games.
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