**Arsenal**club captain Martin Odegaard reflected on how the team have worked in the festive period.
Benefitting from a week between the clashes against **Wolves**and Everton, the Gunners grabbed a Carabao Cup quarter-final victory over Crystal Palace before they welcome **Brighton**and Aston Villa to the Emirates Stadium to see out the year. Rest and recuperation between games is integral.
“We trained on Christmas Day and Boxing Day to prepare for today’s game. I personally love playing football at this time of year. Christmas football is a big part of the tradition of English football, and it’s a busy period, but also a really special one because a lot of people are together.
“I have my family over to visit as well, so we enjoy it. People get a lot out of watching the games around Christmas too, so hopefully we can make it a special game together today.
"We are used to playing twice a week anyway, and this time of year you don’t really look at the days, it’s just the schedule, and we are feeling good. Before the Everton game there wasn’t a midweek match, and it’s not very often you have a full week of training, so that was good for us too.
“We used that period as a good chance to train and practice together, to go through ideas and work on things as a group. When you play every three days, it’s more about recovery and you can’t do too much else, so we wanted to make the most of it. It also helps you recover your body and your mind.
“We have a quick turnaround for the game against Aston Villa after Brighton today, and this is when you really need to look after your body and make sure you prepare well. Everyone buys into that in the team – the players and the staff – to make sure we are all doing the right things at this time of year.
“It’s about being professional, doing the right things, and there is a lot of work that goes into that behind the scenes, to make sure we’re ready to play every few days. People might not see that side of it as much, but that’s a big part of my job as well, to make sure we prepare and take care of the body.
“It’s not just about the games, or training, it’s all the time in between as well. I enjoy that side of it, enjoy doing the recovery process and taking care of my body. It’s a big part of the job.
“Also, you have to stay really focused when there are this many games, and not look too far ahead. The mindset is the same, and that’s to win. You have to be ruthless, lock in and make sure you have done everything you can. Get ready mentally and physically and be ready to go again and again.”