Martin Odegaard, the captain of Arsenal, acknowledges that the team needs to grow after their humiliating 3-0 loss to Brighton at home on Sunday.
The visitors’ tenuous title aspirations were dashed after a surprise victory at the Emirates thanks to goals from Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav, and Pervis Estupinan in the second half.
Manchester City, who are now atop the Premier League, just need one more victory from their remaining three games to capture the championship, but if Arsenal loses to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, they might win the trophy without even taking the field.
Prior to the Gunners’ match against Brighton, City defeated Everton 3-0. Despite a good first-half performance, Mikel Arteta’s team crumbled. The Seagulls took the lead through Enciso in the 51st minute before defeating the hosts with late goals from Undav and Estupinan.
Odegaard replied when asked if attitude was a problem: “No, I don’t think so.
“I thought we were strong coming into the game, but obviously, it was a different story there.
“We must acknowledge that and draw lessons from it.
“In the first half, we accomplished a lot of excellent things and had a few opportunities to make some big plays and perhaps score one or two goals.
Then, in the second half, we gave them steadily greater impetus. They pose a threat when they approach directly, and they were particularly dangerous on our right side, where they assaulted us very easily from behind at the time. There are several areas that we could improve.
Despite refusing to acknowledge defeat in the title battle, Arsenal manager Arteta, Odegaard stated that their aspirations were likely over.
The way we played, especially in the second half, I don’t know what happened to be honest but big, big disappointment. Yeah, it feels like there is no hope now
With their victory at Goodison Park, City now has 11 straight victories in the Premier League. This weekend is predicted to be the decisive one for the title.
Odegaard stated to Sky Sports: “Yeah, it feels like that (the title is finished). It will be very challenging today, in my opinion. It’s difficult to take, but we have to be honest.
Currently, I don’t have a nice sensation. Sincerily, I have no idea what went wrong with the way we played, especially in the second half, but I am quite disappointed.
Yes, it appears that there is no longer any hope.
After suffering a shocking 5-1 home loss to Everton on Monday, Brighton put on an electrifying second half performance to resurrect their improbable top-four push.
After Undaz’s 86th-minute lob, Roberto De Zerbi rolled down the touchline before celebrating on his knees after Estupinan’s goal to seal the victory.
The Italian downplayed parallels to Jose Mourinho, who performed similarly in a match against Manchester United in 2004 while playing for Porto, but he did acknowledge that the sky is the limit for him and his group.
De Zerbi said, “Jose Mourinho is a brilliant manager, but I have this character, this desire.”
“I have no idea (what the future holds). Right now, getting into Europe is my primary priority.
“I want to fantasise about the future because I always give my all at work. I wish to dream and I live for my work. I always strive to do the seemingly impossible.
“With Brighton now. Earlier with Sassuolo and Shakhtar. When I play football, I want to set a very high bar for myself, and if I fail, we only become better.
Despite the absence of Robert Sanchez, who had been his first-choice custodian until February, De Zerbi remained secretive about it.
De Zerbi stated, “We spoke two days ago and came to an understanding that he is not going to come here today.
He was aware that he was not going to play, so we came to a compromise.