Artin Odegaard has admitted Arsenal used the pain of being beaten 4-1 by Manchester City in their previous match to humiliate Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium.
The Norwegian playmaker scored two vital first-half goals to help Arsenal secure a 3-1 victory over their London rivals on Tuesday night, with Gabriel Jesus scoring the third. The win puts the Gunners back at the top of the Premier League table, but possibly only for 24 hours as City take on West Ham on Wednesday.
Pep Guardiola’s side remain favorites to win a third straight league title, two points behind Arsenal with two games less as things stand.
However, Odegaard’s interview with sky sports after the match, Arsenal are still in the fight, having shown a much better “spirit” to beat Chelsea.
He said: “I think the first half was particularly brilliant. We went out and showed a different spirit, a different team than last time basically. The second half was a bit tricky I would say, but very happy with the first half and the three points – a good win for us. We needed this one.
Motivated by the loss to City, Odegaard said: “Yes, I think so, everyone was injured after the game and we used that anger and disappointment to come into this game and really bounce back.
“You can lose games but the way we lost we didn’t really play our game and we weren’t ourselves. That’s the most painful thing and that’s why we wanted to show another facet today and we all did it.”
Odegaard’s brace took his league tally to 14 this season and he became the third Arsenal player to top 20 (goals and assists) this Premier League campaign.
“I’m just trying to help the team,” he added, acknowledging Granit Xhaka for his two assists.
“This year I’ve scored more goals and Granit with two good balls as well, so it’s about being in the right area.
“Granit has attacked space and it’s about being in the right area and trying to get to the goal. After (the first goal), we took the momentum and controlled everything.
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