After Arsenal suffered a 3-0 defeat last night at the Emirate Stadium to Brighton & Hove Albion, Martin Odegaard has conceded that Arsenal’s title challenge is virtually over, but has exhorted his teammates to finish the season strongly.
Three second-half goals for the Seagulls saw Arsenal lose for just the second time at home in the league this campaign, and leaves Manchester City needing just one win from their final three matches to be crowned champions.
With that in mind, Martin Odegaard is just hoping for Arsenal to claim back-to-back wins against Nottingham Forest and Wolves over the next fortnight to finish what has been an incredible season on a high.
Analysing the title race, he said: “It looks difficult to be honest, we have to be realistic, I don’t think City are going to make many mistakes now.
“The only thing we can do now is get back and finish the season in a good way, I think everyone deserves that, especially the fans. That’s the only thing we can do and we’ll have to see.
“We’ve done a lot of good things [this season], but at the moment it’s just disappointing the way we ended. Especially the three games before the Chelsea game, and then this game today.
“I think it’s a good sign as well that we are disappointed at the moment, we just have to make sure we keep improving. We’re just going to get better and better all the time and that’s the aim.”
The game hung in the balance at half-time with the score goalless, before the Seagulls ran out victors thanks to strikes from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav and Pervis Estupinan.
Arsenal skipper admits he is upset with the way things panned out in the second 45, as the Sussex side claimed a third-straight win at Emirates Stadium.
“The first half we did okay with the high press, we won the ball a few times there and it could’ve been dangerous,” he added. “We could’ve scored some goals there, but then second half, I think the game changed a bit.
“We didn’t do the high press as well as in the first, and when they went direct it was a bit too easy for them to get through and in the end the goals were a bit easy, I don’t know why at the moment – it was frustrating.”
