Odegaard demands Arsenal to bounce back after Europa League exit

Martin Odegaard encouraged Arsenal to “bounce back” following their elimination from the Europa League by Sporting CP.

Arsenal’s loss in the last-16 second leg at the Emirates Stadium, which saw Gabriel Martinelli miss a penalty in the shoot-out, resulted in them being knocked out, having drawn both legs.

This defeat extends Arsenal’s record to five consecutive home knockout matches without a win in the Europa League (D3 L2) since their victory against Valencia in May 2019.

Arsenal is the Premier League leader and should maintain their level

The focus now turns to the Premier League, where Arsenal currently hold a five-point lead over Manchester City with 11 games remaining. Martin Odegaard hopes that his team will recover from their Europa League loss and perform well against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

He told BT Sport: “I think we did enough in some periods of the game but most of the game we were not on the level that we should be.

“Part of the game we did well but, throughout the whole game, we didn’t play our best football. It was a tight game in the end and could have gone both ways.

“They are a good team, we knew that, we knew their qualities, and we were prepared, but I think it was more about us today.

“We didn’t play the way we normally do, and we didn’t maybe put in the energy that we usually do. That’s disappointing but now we have to look forward and be ready for Sunday.

“We have to remember it has been a great season, we’ve done amazing things this year. Of course, it is a big blow to go out of this competition, it was a big goal for us, but we have to look forward now.

“We have to look at Sunday, come back stronger and make sure we finish well in the league, that’s the only thing we can do now.