After Mikel Arteta revealed that Martin Odegaard, the captain of Arsenal, had an injury after their shocking 2-0 loss to Aston Villa at home, the Gunners’ Sunday became even worse.

When the Arsenal manager decided to substitute teammate Emile Smith Rowe for Odegaard in the 79th minute, it caused some controversy. The reason behind Arteta’s decision was instantly assumed by Gunners supporters, but it has now been revealed that the captain of Arsenal ‘felt something’ in the closing moments.

The Premier League was rocked when the 25-year-old Odegaard was substituted off the field with the score at 0-0. Villa scored twice in rapid succession during his absence. When questioned about taking off the Norwegian midfielder after the game, Arteta said, “He was feeling something.” He was unable to go on.”

When pressed to elaborate on the issue, the Arsenal boss remained silent, leaving fans to wonder if Odegaard would be ready for Wednesday’s tantalizing Champions League quarterfinal matchup with Bayern Munich. After a 2-2 draw with the Bundesliga’s top team during Harry Kane and company’s visit to the Emirates last week, the Gunners will go to Germany for the second leg with everything on the line.

With six games remaining in the Premier League title race, Arsenal is at the mercy of Manchester City. Arteta believes that Arsenal will have the ideal opportunity to recover from their humiliation on Sunday by winning this trip. “[City] is beyond our control. The Spaniard clarified, “What we can control is that when we have the run we had, when you win, win, win, it’s easy.


“This is the moment. This is the blow and our response to it. On Wednesday, we have the best chance to respond against Bayern Munich. Team must demonstrate it. You have to get through these obstacles if you want to win. This was going to happen with the games we had. Now it’s up to us how we respond. We have control over this.”
Additionally, Arteta urged his players to be leaders and have character. If Odegaard is forced to sit out any time, this will be especially necessary of them. “If one result is going to do that [damage confidence] then we are not strong enough, that’s very simple,” he said.


“We played against a really excellent team and produced by far one of our greatest half-performances of the season in the first half; it should have been three or four or more. We were unable to maintain the same level of control and production as we had in the first half as the second half saw a reversal in momentum.


“Congratulations to the opposition; we battled and gave up two very bad goals, thus we lost the game. Now is the time to step up as a leader and a person to make an impact because, after four months of winning, it becomes extremely easy to do so. The time is now.


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