Martin Odegaard admitted to a ‘frustrating’ afternoon as Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
The Gunners had hoped to cut Liverpool’s lead at the top to four points after yesterday’s Merseyside derby was postponed due to bad weather but Mikel Arteta’s side couldn’t capitalise on an afternoon when they had most of the play.
Raul Jiminez put the Cottagers ahead with their first attack and they held the lead until the 52nd minute when William Saliba netted his second goal from a set piece in a week.
Arsenal thought they’d snatched a win at the death when Bukayo Saka headed home Gabriel Martinelli’s cross but the goal was ruled out by VAR after the Brazilian was adjudged to be offside.
Facing the Sky Sports cameras, Odegaard said: “I think we dominated most of the game although the first half wasn’t great from us, it was a bit sloppy on the ball, lacked energy, some power.
“The second half was a lot better but it’s frustrating not to win. It was close at the end with the goal [ruled out by VAR], yeah, frustrating.
He added: “It [Fulham] is a good team, they know how to defend, it’s a solid block, a lot of players behind the ball and really compact. We knew that before the game, we tried to deal with it and we didn’t do enough today.
“We have to learn from that and make sure we strike back in the next one.”
After Manchester City also dropped points yesterday, Liverpool will be enjoying their weekend without even playing. The title is very much theirs to lose.
“We have to focus on ourselves. We don’t care about the other teams [in the title race],” said Odegaard.
“We did a lot of good things. We have to do more and put the ball in the box more times. Maybe be a bit more direct and aggressive. We could have won it in the end.
“It’s a very long way to go. We’ve said hundreds of times we have to keep going game by game.”
A long long way to go.
Very, especially with a winning goal like that called offside…
automated var has to be implemented as soon as possible. having a last second winner overruled a minute after you scored it, is not only an awful sensation, but also dismal from an entertainment perspective. it is the same when you’re on the other side of things, everytime we get scored on im waiting for a miraculous var call, you never know whether to be happy or not. it improves fairness but ruins the game.
We’re not winning the league. I’ll say it now. We have got low confidence in nearly all of our options from the bench. Right now Martinelli, Jesus and Sterling wouldn’t get on the starting 11 in any top 10-12 teams. Trossard is too inconsistent to start every game so in that sense we have severe limitations in goalscoring from open play. Havertz is decent, but just isn’t elite level to win the league. Injuries in defence are disruptive, but I just think our forward line is predictable.
Yes indeed, it is frustrating not being ruthless.
Martinelli was at fault in having that winner disallowed.
Arsenal desperately need a top class striker AND a left winger. Martinelli doesn’t offer much at all.
Mbappe?
bro i’ve probably been the kid’s harshest critic around here lately but he wasn’t at fault at all in that play, the margins are so thin for offsides and at the last minute of the game you can be forgiven for being 10 cm ahead of where you should be. he delivered a great ball, just unlucky there. (though i’ve seen poor offside awareness from him in previous matches)
You stupid fucking cunts! 2 years mow could have won it but you lost to southampton west ham fulham newcastle villa. Any lessons learned? Go fuck yourself Mikel! ‘Wanna be the best ..blab blah..the energy guys the energy”. Buy a fkn striker you cunt!!!
The fokin standards eh?? Listen here mikel…this club has turned adebayor into a 30 goal per season striker, was getting top4 with eboue and denilson and almunia. Fuck! We even turned walcott into a finisher! Useless
23 games to go … the title is not theirs to lose yet !
This is what we will keep saying until we finish 1 point behind the eventual champion! Truth is this current squad can not win the league, marked out Saka and Odegaard and Arsenal will either lose or draw, teams find it easy to defend against us