Before every game at Emirates Stadium, Martin Odegaard lifts the lid on the mood in the camp via his captain’s notes published in the matchday programme.
Ahead of this afternoon's game against Brighton & Hove Albion, Odegaard reflects on the demands of the festive period, what Arsenal've worked on recently at the training ground, and what he expects from the Seagulls. Here is a snippet:
We trained on Christmas Day and Boxing Day to prepare for today’s game. I personally love playing football at this time of year. Christmas football is a big part of the tradition of English football, and it’s a busy period, but also a really special one because a lot of people are together. I have my family over to visit as well, so we enjoy it. People get a lot out of watching the games around Christmas too, so hopefully we can make it a special game together today.
We are used to playing twice a week anyway, and this time of year you don’t really look at the days, it’s just the schedule, and we are feeling good. Before the Everton game there wasn’t a midweek match, and it’s not very often you have a full week of training, so that was good for us too. I don’t think we had done that since the first month of the season, with internationals as well.
We used that period as a good chance to train and practice together, to go through ideas and work on things as a group. When you play every three days, it’s more about recovery and you can’t do too much else, so we wanted to make the most of it. It also helps you recover too – both your body and your mind. As I said, I love playing every three days, but I also realise you need those moments to refresh as well, and get ready for this really intensive period we are going to have again.