Arteta provides squad update ahead of Sporting | News

At every home game, Martin Odegaard gives his thoughts on past games and events at the club in his captain’s notes for the matchday programme.

Ahead of tonight’s game against Sporting, you can read an excerpt of his latest column, which takes his thoughts on the first leg – which he missed through illness – and focuses back on European competition…

Of course I saw the first game against Sporting and found it much more open than we would have liked.

We did some things in the game that we don’t normally do and we know they have quality so they will punish you for every mistake. We gave away a few easy balls and we can’t afford that.

I think it was a bit too open and we didn’t play with the control that we usually do.

On the other hand, we also showed a lot of good things. So if we learn from our mistakes and fix that tonight, we can fix it here at home.

Another positive aspect of the first leg for us was Jakub Kiwior making his debut. It was great for him to get his first few minutes with us because he’s been training really well since he came on.

So it was a great opportunity for him to play his first game from the start in such a big event and you could see his qualities. I’m sure he’s getting better and better now, especially as he understands more of what we’re doing, builds those relationships on the pitch with the rest of the team and also develops the language.

A draw away in Europe against a good side is never a bad result and the mentality has changed too since the away goals rule was abolished.

For me, that definitely made these games different. Before in the knockout stages it was very tactical, there were a lot more scenarios to think about during the game.

It’s a lot easier now, so maybe that’s a good thing, but to be honest I’m not sure yet if I prefer it or not.

All we know is that we’re playing at home tonight and if we win we’re through, so that’s our goal.

It’s our first European game since early November and while I don’t think it’s difficult to shift the focus from the Premier League to Europe, it’s true that the processes are different.

We’re traveling again and it’s a different kind of football than every week in the league. So it feels a bit different, but I don’t think it’s really difficult to change focus because you want to win every game you play. You want to win every competitive tournament you play in, so for us it’s just a new challenge and a different kind of football too.

Read the rest of Odegaard’s Notes, as well as a host of other fantastic content, by buying a copy of the Arsenal v Bournemouth program either at the stadium or online, and you can also purchase a seasonal subscription to get every issue through your door.