Odegaard on cup ambition for club and country | News

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 this evening’s Carabao Cup fourth round tie with Brighton & Hove Albion, he discusses goals being shared around the team, our cup ambitions and his dream of playing for Norway in a World Cup. Here is a snippet:

Ebs got his goal on Sunday, and that was almost meant to be, wasn’t it? It was a great finish and he showed really good technique to get over the ball properly and finish that well. I think it was a big moment for him and we were all really pleased for him. We know he’s the type of player who brings goals and assists in crucial moments.

I saw as well that he’s our 11th different scorer in the league this season, and that’s exactly what you want throughout the season. It’s a real strength of ours. When you look at our team, you see goals everywhere; everyone is able to contribute and take responsibility. To be fair I think we’ve seen that over the past few seasons as well that we can share the goals around the squad.

We want to keep that going, of course, and tonight’s match could be another chance for people to step up and take their opportunity.

We are determined to do well in every single competition this season, and tonight that means the Carabao Cup. This competition can progress really quickly, if we win tonight we will be in the quarter-finals and suddenly you can see the end of the tournament approaching.

That’s a huge motivation for us going into the game. Everyone knows that we want to win trophies, and how important that is for us. This competition is the first chance to do that this season. It’s great that we have lots of players desperate to be out there playing. The level in training is really good right now, and there is a great energy at the training ground, but nothing replaces the matches.

We have a bigger squad now and a lot of players competing, so I’m sure everyone will be ready if they are called tonight. Everyone deserves to play, and we are all together, wanting to keep this good run going.

I would love to be involved, but I’m still working on my recovery. It’s going well and I’m progressing a lot. I’ve started moving around more and I’ve been running on the anti-gravity machine this week. It’s good to feel that it’s going in the right direction and that I can do more and more each day when I come into Sobha. It’s hard work, and it’s nice to feel progression – it gives you more motivation.

Tonight is our last match at Emirates Stadium before three away games in a week before the internationals. We have built some good momentum now, so let’s keep that going as long as we can. Talking of the internationals, Norway have two big games coming up in November, and we know if we can beat Estonia at home we will be in a really good position to qualify for the World Cup next year.

We’re getting closer but we have to finish the job. We’re going to stay calm until it’s done and hopefully we can make it because we feel it’s time for us. It’s been too long. I’m very excited about it and hopefully we can finish the job next month.

Read the rest of Martin’s notes, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying the Arsenal v Brighton programme either around the stadium or online, or subscribe to get every edition delivered to your door.

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