Odegaard on Man Utd game, goals and celebrations!

Every home game, Martin Odegaard gives you his thoughts on the goings-on around the club in his captain’s notes column for the matchday programme. 

Ahead of Sunday's game against Manchester United, you can read a snippet of his latest column which includes his thoughts on our opponents this season, his goalscoring form and the meaning of his latest celebration

Manchester United are obviously playing very well. I’ve watched them a lot lately and they look to me to be getting better and better this season. Their coach is a good one who I know from his time in Holland with Ajax, and his sides always play good football.

So yeah, they’re doing well, but we must also remember the match at Old Trafford earlier in the season. I felt that day we controlled most of the game and I felt we deserved a better result in the end. This time we want to show some more discipline, to control the game for 90 minutes and not just small periods. It will be a tough game but we’re ready for it and we are feeling confident.

We’re back at home too, and the atmosphere could make a big difference for us again. We know what the stadium will be like today, it will be amazing for sure, and I’m sure you can all help us a lot, give us energy and lift the team again.

For myself, I was really happy to score again against Tottenham. I’ve said many times that I want to help the team with goals, to create chances and do all the things players in my position need to do. I don’t know if I’m shooting more than I used to, I’m always just looking for the best option. It’s not like I feel like I have to shoot all the time, but maybe when it’s the right thing to do now, in some moments you just have this instinct. You don’t think, you just do it.

The confidence you get from scoring goals gives you this ability to just go for it. To explain the basketball celebration, it’s just something we have talked about in the team. We have some principles in the team and the way we work and there is one thing we do that we think is similar to basketball. We do a lot together that is part of our game, so we were talking about that and decided to do it as a celebration. We enjoyed it after the game too!

Read the rest of Odegaard’s notes, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying a copy of the Arsenal v Manchester United programme either around the stadium or online, and you can also purchase a seasonal subscription to get every issue through your door.