Morale around the Arsenal camp is high at the moment given their unbeaten start to the Premier League season and impressive return to the Champions League.
After seven years out of European club football’s most prestigious competition, the Gunners marked their game back in the Champions League with a dominant 4-0 win over PSV Eindhoven. As a result, many of the Emirates faithful are growng in confidence ahead of Sunday’s showdown with local rivals Tottenham.
Mikel Arteta’s men welcome their arch enemies to the red side of north London for their first meeting of the campaign. The tie is set up to be an interesting one, with both Arsenal and Spurs boasting an equal record of four wins and one draw from their opening five games.
With that in mind, here are all of the talking points surrounding the Gunners for Saturday, September 23.
Odegaard set to stay
Martin Odegaard has commited his long-term future to Arsenal and put pen to paper on a new five-year deal, which will see him become the club’s highest earner. Once the new contract had been officially announced, the Norway international explained how delighted he was to be extending his Gunners stay.
“People want to be here as part of the project. What we’re doing is really special and the players see what the manager wants to do and how the club is progressing, the connection we now have with the fans. I think it’s a no-brainer for the players to be part of that. With so many hungry young players, it’s a great place to be.
“Even though we’re a young team, you can see the quality, the responsibility the players take. Experience is not just about age. It’s also about what you’ve done. I think the young players we have already have a lot of experience.
“All the players want the same thing, they want to stay for a long time and really fight for the club and win things together. It shows the family feeling we have.”
Mikel Arteta has insisted that Aaron Ramsdale has reacted well to losing his place for the last two Gunners games. The England international watched both the wins over Everton and PSV from the bench.
Instead, between the sticks was summer signing David Raya. On loan from Brentford, it is widely expected that the deal will become a permanent one in the summer – which could spell bad news for Ramsdale.
However, Arteta told the media: “He’s been very supportive around the place and that’s what I expect because when you’re playing there’s someone else who’s not and he’s been very good.” The Arsenal boss was also asked whether he himself was comfortable with making such a difficult call.
“Comfortable? Maybe I look it,” he quipped. “It’s one of the hardest things. Players feel happy and valued when they play and when they don’t it’s hard. Everybody understands that it’s a team sport but we have seen how important the finishes are and everybody has a part to play in the season.”
