LONDON (AP) – Mikel Arteta says he and his players are unquestionable about Martin Odegard’s qualities as Arsenal captain.
Norway International has been captain for three years and finished second in the Premier League. That remains the same as the Gunners prepare for the season opener at Manchester United on Sunday.
Club great Tony Adams has been calling on Arteta since 2004 to hand over the armband to Declan Rice to promote his team to his first top flight title.
Arteta, former Arsenal captain, said that wasn’t happening.
“It’s not just my opinion,” he said Friday, “It’s all the staff, especially the players. I asked them to vote for the captain, and I asked them to get results yesterday and in a mile – 100 miles – Martin Odegard, the most obvious sign that everyone can have.
“It’s how they feel about who has to be their captain in order to defend, improve and win the games we want to win,” Arteta added. “There’s no question about that.”
Odegard is also the captain of Norway.
Keep digging
Three consecutive runner-up finishes will not stop the team, Arteta said.
“You keep digging, you keep digging, you keep digging,” he said. “One day, we have to dig into it because we have gold there. Over the course of three seasons, we have more points than the other teams in this league. This is incredible. Now, we have to do that to score one more point (more than the other teams)…that’s what we’re trying to do.”
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
