Martin Odegaard sets Arsenal challenge after Premier League leaders defeat Wolves

The Gunners will be top at Christmas after winning at Wolves

Nick Mashiter
Sunday 13 November 2022 14:19 GMT
Comments
Martin Odegaard challenged the Premier League leaders to improve further (Nigel French/PA)
Martin Odegaard challenged the Premier League leaders to improve further (Nigel French/PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Martin Odegaard challenged Arsenal to improve further after they moved five points clear at the top of the Premier League.

The skipper’s second-half double sealed a 2-0 win at Wolves on Saturday to extend their lead over Manchester City.

City’s surprise 2-1 home defeat to Brentford allowed Arsenal to take control at the summit ahead of the World Cup break.

“We have to come back even stronger and better but at the moment, it’s looking good,” Odegaard told the club’s official website.

“It’s a good way to go into the break. We said before the game we wanted to finish strongly and we wanted to bring this good feeling into the break and we did that.

“We talked about it before the game and we talked about it at half-time – it’s difficult to play against these teams with five at the back. We had to stay patient. I think we did, and, in the end, we got the goals.

“It was a tough one, we had to dig deep. The first half was a bit slow – we were struggling on the ball to create chances really.

“They defended well and we know they’re always dangerous on the counter, so it was a difficult game.

“Then we changed a few things. We sped up the game a little bit in the second half and we know we have quality, so we’re always going to create something, but we did good to get the win.”

Wolves remain bottom and were watched by new boss Julen Lopetegui, who will officially take charge on Monday.

They are four points from safety and Ruben Neves knows the squad must turn the tide when they return next month.

We want results, we’re working hard to get results but we’re not getting them

Ruben Neves

“We have a break now, we’ll have a rest and it needs to be a new season for us after this. It’s our main target with a new coach,” the midfielder told the club’s official website.

“It’s hard to keep saying the same things. We want results, we’re working hard to get results but we’re not getting them.

“We did a good game on Wednesday and most of the game today we did it well, but it’s little details again. We let them create three or four chances and they scored twice. We need to improve.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in