Odegaard of Arsenal Talks Tough Before the Match Against Man City

Martin Odegaard, the captain of the north London team, said that Arsenal and Manchester City’s fierce rivalry is a natural outcome of both teams’ desire to be the best ahead of their Premier League game at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Arsenal lost to Pep Guardiola’s squad once more after finishing second to City in 2022–2023 and making it to the last day of the Premier League title race the season before.

Tensions escalated during their most recent encounter in September when Odegaard and his Norwegian colleague Erling Haaland threw the ball at Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes and shouted at Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to “remain humble.”

“I believe that during football games like these, there is a lot of passion and adrenaline there.

Odegaard told British reporters, “That’s something that can happen on the pitch and then you are done with it when you walk off the pitch.”

“I don’t think about it all that much. I believe that intense rivalry is typical while playing these major games.

“You want to be the greatest because you are competing. That’s the way it should be, and occasionally there should be some heat.

However, I believe that many of the players—including England, Brazil, and me with Erling—know one another from the national team, so things are a little different on and off the field.

“It is a good battle when we are on the field.”

Arsenal is in second position with 47 points, six points behind leaders Liverpool, who still have a game to play, while City is in fourth place with 41 points.