Martin Odegaard has urged Arsenal to use their recent goalscoring momentum to boost the club’s historic bid for Champions League and Premier League glory. The Gunners head to Porto on Wednesday for the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie in upbeat mood after thrashing Burnley 5-0 last weekend. Mikel Arteta’s side have started a calendar year with five consecutive league wins for the first time in their history, and have scored 21 goals in those games.
Arsenal are just two points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool and can turn their attention to Porto knowing they are in the hunt for a first title since 2004.
As well as reigning supreme in England for the first time in 20 years, the North Londoners are confident they can conquer Europe too.
Arsenal have never won the Champions League – losing their only final match against Barcelona in 2006.
Buoyed by recent high-scoring wins, Gunners captain Odegaard is confident his team can make exciting bids for both trophies.
“That’s what we want to do, we want to compete in every competition we play in,” the Norway midfielder said.
“Of course the Champions League is a huge league, so we’re excited for it.
“We just want to focus on ourselves every game, keep improving every game and we’ll see how it goes.
“We’re in a good moment right now. We’ve got to use that momentum, keep it going and we’ll see.”
running blisters
Arsenal lost their first game of the year to Liverpool in the FA Cup.
Rejuvenating from the hot weather training camp in Dubai, they beat Crystal Palace 5–0 and beat Nottingham Forest. He put Liverpool in trouble in a 3–1 league win, revealing Arsenal’s hunger to make up for last season’s late defeat in the title race.
They then defeated West Ham 6–0 before crushing Burnley.
Porto, who finished a disappointing third in the Portuguese league, could face a sudden brutal attack from Arsenal.
For most of the season, critics suggested that Arsenal’s lack of a genuine penalty-box hunter could ruin their title chances.
Gabriel Jesus’ recurring injury problems have hardly helped, but despite the Brazilian playing only twice in 2024, Arsenal are scoring with ease.
“I think that’s what we were missing a bit in the last few weeks before the break. We created a lot but we couldn’t score,” Odegaard said.
“But in the last few games, we have been brilliant in front of goal. We get a lot of people in the box and a lot of situations around the box.”
England winger Bukayo Saka has been one of the key figures in Arsenal’s explosive performances. Stopping him will be an essential part of Porto’s game-plan at the Estadio do Dragao.
The 22-year-old scored twice against Burnley, taking him to seven goals in his last seven games.
“The boss told us we were the first Arsenal team to win five in a row at the start of the year, so it’s a nice achievement and we’ll definitely build on the momentum going forward,” he said.
“Not only am I playing well, the team is also playing well and we are scoring a lot of goals because we have some important matches coming up starting from Wednesday.
“I can’t wait to get there. I’m really excited, looking forward to it and hopefully we can carry this form into that game as well.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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