Martin Odegaard offered his thoughts on another Arsenal defeat against Manchester City.At the business end of the campaign, the Gunners have again struggled to get their most important players fit and firing throughout the run-in. The club captain suffered a knee injury in February, and after he returned against Southampton, a knock against Sporting saw him out of action for a week.
The visitors risked using him from the start at the Etihad Stadium, but they ended up second best.
‘Always pressure always noise’
Rayan Cherki and fellow Norway international Erling Haaland handed the three points to the Citizens, whose individual quality in the final third made the difference in a well contested game.
It is another example of how well Pep Guardiola gets his players ready to perform at this stage of the season. Momentum has moved decisively against Arsenal, but Odegaard has been calling for calm.
“It was a tight call, but I felt OK in the game. Bit tired in end but good to be back and hopefully I can be back with the team until the end.
"Disappointed not to win. We wanted to get a result, and we were really up for it today. We played a good game, we pressed well. Especially in the second half we looked dangerous, big moments in front of goal. Small margins to decide a game like this and we weren't sharp enough in front of goal and that's why we go home with nothing.
"That's football at this level. It was always going to be like that. Very intense, very tough. Small margins. Frustrating but a lot of good things in the game from us. Now it's about looking forward to the next game to bounce back.
"The high press was really good. Looked dangerous. Sometimes you end up deep, but I thought we did really well apart from the goals. Maybe lacked a bit of composure on the ball sometimes. Overall, a decent performance. We've got to learn from that and move onto next game.
"There's always [noise after bad results], always pressure always noise. That's part of being a football player at this level. We'll keep going, stay focused and look forward to the next game and move on. You have to live with that."