Martin Odegaard makes demand to Arsenal team-mates after nightmare weekend

Martin Odegaard has demanded a response from his Arsenal team-mates after seeing their title hopes take a battering this weekend.

The Gunners missed a chance to close the gap at the top of the table on Saturday afternoon, falling to a 1-0 defeat to West Ham at the Emirates, as Jarrod Bowen scored the only goal of the game.

And Arne Slot's men made them pay for that failure on Sunday, extending their lead to 11 points with a commanding 2-0 win over Manchester City at the Etihad.

Following his side’s abject display, manager Mikel Arteta took aim at his players for failing to reach the levels required to end the club’s 21-year wait for a title. But with Arsenal back in action at third-place Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, captain Odegaard urged his team-mates to pick themselves up and get back to work.

The Norwegian, speaking prior to Liverpool's win, said: “It’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves.

“We have to keep going. There are still many games to be played. The main thing now is to win the next one and work from there. We’re really disappointed. It felt like we had a good chance against West Ham but the overall performance wasn’t good enough.

“We put a lot of pressure on them, but we lacked a bit of efficiency in the final third, the final pass, the final cross and we should have been sharper and better around the box.

“We missed that and that’s a big blow for everyone. But we move on and we have to strike back in the next one straight away.”

Injury problems have hit Arsenal hard recently, with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus both out for the rest of the season and Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka currently sidelined.

But the return of Ben White as a second-half substitute – making his first appearance since the 1-1 draw at Chelsea on November 10 – was one bright spark on a bleak day for the Gunners.

“It’s great to have Ben back,” added Odegaard. “He’s been out for a while and you could see straight away the quality he brings. That was the good news, but at the moment we’re disappointed.”

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