Before every game at Emirates Stadium, Martin Odegaard lifts the lid on the mood in the camp via his captain’s notes published in the matchday programme.
Ahead of the meeting with Liverpool, he tells us about the atmosphere in training this week, his thoughts on Tuesday's win, and how close he could be to a return to action. Here's a snippet:
These are the games we love to play, I’m sure all of you are going to be really fired up and we’re expecting a top atmosphere inside the stadium. Our last two matches have had different challenges. Losing to Bournemouth, then showing good character in getting the job done against Shakhtar, when we didn’t play at our best level, I know the team is determined to turn up with a huge performance, raise our level and reach our heights.
Everyone is excited and ready to go. We want to give our best performance, and we know that will be needed against Liverpool.
They have had a very strong start to the season of course, and are full of confidence themselves. We played against them in pre-season, and I watched their game against Chelsea last weekend, and it looks to me as though there are a few changes from how they played under Jurgen Klopp.
I’ve been out for a few weeks now, and have been working hard to get back as soon as possible. As I said in my notes on Tuesday, I feel like it’s close now, but although I haven’t been involved in the games lately, I feel I’ve still been able to use that time pretty well too. To be honest my days haven’t been much different to before. I am still at the training ground every day, and they are long days as well. I’m usually pretty tired afterwards because I’ve been doing a lot of work with the great medical and fitness team we have, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the gym as well. I’ve wanted to stay involved with what’s happening too, so I’ve been going to the preparation meetings and have been closely involved. But obviously matchdays have been different, there’s been less traveling so I’ve been able to spend more time at home, getting important rest periods, which has been good.
Hopefully I can come out of this period fresher and stronger and ready for the rest of the season. That’s the aim now, look at the positives and use this time in a good way. When I’m back I’m going to be feeling pretty good, I’m sure.
But picking up wins always helps too, and with you all behind us again, I’m confident we can get the job done at home.
Read the rest of Martin's notes, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying the Arsenal v Liverpool programme either around the stadium or online - or get a subscription to receive every edition through your door.
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