Praise Odegaard Despite Not Making Goals Against Norwich, Arteta: He Lubricates This Team

Martin Odeegard (Twitter @arsenal)

JAKARTA - Mikel Arteta praised Martin Odegaard's performance even though the Arsenal attacking midfielder did not score when his team crushed Norwich City 5-0 in the English League Boxing Day match, at Carrow Road, last Sunday night.

"I think he played very, very well. He helped us a lot, became a lubricant for this team and I am very satisfied for all of that," Arteta said after the match quoted by Antara from Arsenal's official website.

Although he didn't score, Odegaard was responsible for providing assists for Arsenal's first two goals, which were scored by Bukayo Saka and Kieran Tierney.

That record means the Norwegian captain has now scored three goals and provided three assists in his last six appearances for Arsenal.

Arteta also admitted that he was satisfied with Arsenal's performance as a team which he said was quite consistent and continued to threaten the Norwich goal for most of the match.

"It's a good day. It's a traditional day in this country and playing football in this kind of atmosphere is incredible," he said.

"I think we performed and played very well, we were very consistent and continued to threaten throughout the game. I am very satisfied with the way we attacked and defended," said Arteta complete.

The record extends Arsenal's positive trend of now winning four games in a row, but Arteta insists that his team must continue to keep the spirit in the midst of the busy schedule that still has to be faced.

Arsenal are scheduled to immediately host Wolverhampton at the Emirates on Tuesday (28/12) or only have one day of rest.

"There is no time to recover fitness, but we will try to keep the spirit, mindset and physically of this team in the best condition to perform in front of our own fans, which I think will inject the spirit to win games," said Arteta as well.

Arsenal strengthen their position in fourth place with a collection of 35 points from 19 games, just six points behind Chelsea and six points clear of their nearest competitor.