Mikel Arteta gives Martin Odegaard verdict ahead of Newcastle clash
- Odegaard was rested for the victory over Sheffield United
- Club captain was a late substitute against West Ham in Carabao Cup exit
- Arteta is hopeful Odegaard will start against Newcastle
By Tom Gott
Mikel Arteta is hopeful Martin Odegaard will be able to play a significant role in Arsenal's meeting with Newcastle United on Saturday after seeing his minutes managed in recent weeks.
Having faced criticism from fans for underwhelming form, Odegaard was benched for the 5-0 win over Sheffield United, after which Arteta revealed the club captain was dealing with muscle overload.
Odegaard was then a substitute in the Carabao Cup defeat to West Ham United, coming off the bench for the final ten minutes and scoring in the dying embers in a crushing 3-1 defeat for Arteta's side.
With Arteta needing a significant response against Newcastle on Saturday, the boss is hopeful of calling on Odegaard once again.
Asked if the Norway international is ready to start games once again, Arteta said: "Yeah, we have tried to offload him a little bit as he had a little issue he was grappling with but he has done much better the last few days and it was good to see him make a contribution against West Ham.
"He will train today and if he is fine then he will be ready."
While summer signing Declan Rice has excelled in midfield alongside Odegaard, one new face who has yet to settle is Germany international Kai Havertz, who was signed from Chelsea for £65m but has just one goal and one assist in his first 16 appearances for the Gunners.
Arteta refused to discuss Havertz's struggles, however, and instead challenged his entire squad to step up and improve.
"I'm not going to talk about any individual," he said. "We are a team when we play the best and when we don't perform I am the person with maximum responsibility. We all need to try to improve every single day."
Havertz was signed to take the midfield place of Granit Xhaka, who has excelled for Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen this season. While the transition has not been smooth for Arsenal, Arteta is confident the results will come soon.
The boss concluded: "Granit was a key player, he played almost every game for us and we knew that it was going to take some time like he did take some time especially when I changed his role and there were a lot of questions about it and then he evolved in a great way and here it will happen the same."
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