‘Still reflect in my memory ‘: Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard reveals most ‘painful’ defeat of his Arsenal career
Martin Odegaard has revealed last season’s 2-0 defeat at Newcastle was one of the most painful days in his career.
Arsenal travelled to St James’ Park last May needing to win to keep their hopes of Champions League football alive.
The Gunners went toe-to-toe with rivals Tottenham for the final Champions League place but were blown away 3-0 by their north London rivals just four days earlier.
With just two games left to play, Arsenal headed north to take on a buoyant Newcastle side who had secured Premier League survival but came unstuck to all-but end their top-four hopes.
“That was one of the hardest days of my time here so far,” Odegaard told Arsenal.com.
“ We did so well for the whole season to fight for the top four and it felt like we had it. But then suddenly we started dropping points.”
“Then we got to this game. We played so badly and lost the spot so it was one of the most painful days of my career.”
A Ben White own-goal followed by Bruno Guimaraes’ strike handed the Magpies maximum points on a night Odegaard has since used as ammunition to go one better this time round.
“We have learned a lot from this game but also the whole experience of missing out.
“We used it as fuel to come back hungrier and more prepared this season. The Champions League is now already secured with many games to play and I think that shows how much we used this game in a good way.”
The Norwegian will be hoping history doesn’t repeat itself this season as Arsenal head to Newcastle next month hoping to keep alive their title ambitions.
Newcastle have Champions League qualification on their minds in a clash that looks set to settle some of this season’s final outcomes.
