Martin Odegaard says Arsenal ‘have to keep going’ after West Ham defeat

Martin Odegaard said Arsenal cannot afford to feel sorry for themselves after their defeat against West Ham which leaves the club’s Premier League title ambitions hanging by a thread.

The Gunners failed to pile the pressure on rivals’ Liverpool following a desperately poor performance at the Emirates, with West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen scoring the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time.

The defeat leaves Arsenal eight points adrift of Liverpool, who have the chance to extend their lead to 11 points with 36 left to play for across the remaining 12 fixtures if they beat Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday.

Attention turns to Wednesday night. pic.twitter.com/1YohS5PQMc

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 23, 2025

Following his side’s abject display, manager Mikel Arteta took aim at his players for failing to reach the levels required to end the club’s 21-year wait for a title.

But with Arsenal back in action at third-place Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, captain Odegaard said: “It’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves.

“We have to keep going. There are still many games to be played. The main thing now is to win the next one and work from there.

“We’re really disappointed. It felt like we had a good chance against West Ham but the overall performance wasn’t good enough.

“We put a lot of pressure on them, but we lacked a bit of efficiency in the final third, the final pass, the final cross and we should have been sharper and better around the box.

“We missed that and that’s a big blow for everyone. But we move on and we have to strike back in the next one straight away.”

Arsenal’s campaign has been beset by injury problems, with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus both out for the rest of the season and Gabriel Martinelli