Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp has praised Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta for his decision to give the captain’s armband to Martin Odegaard in recent weeks.
The Gunners have been without a full-time captain since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was stripped of the captaincy back in December.
Alexandre Lacazette has had the armband but he has dropped out of the team in recent weeks.
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Odegaard has been their captain for Arsenal’s last four games in the Premier League. They have three wins in a row and these victories have come against Chelsea, Man Utd and West Ham.
The Norwegian international joined the Gunners permanently last summer. He has grabbed six goals and five assists this term.
Redknapp thinks it was a good decision from Arteta to give the armband to Odegaard:
“By bringing him into the team, they might have stumbled across a problem that’s caused Arsenal for a few years, the captaincy,” Redknapp said (quotes via The Mirror).
“Xhaka was captain for a while, didn’t really work, [then] Aubameyang, then they give it to Lacazette. It was almost that no one wanted to be.
“But giving it to Odegaard, it feels right for me. He may not be the most vocal but when you watch him play, he organises people, he plays the right pass. He’s a lovely player to watch.
“You can see from Mikel Arteta’s point of view, he’s almost his manager on the pitch. It might be one where, he’s there for the future, he’s a fantastic player, good type of guy as well. It’s a masterstroke from Arteta.”
Elsewhere, Arteta has praised his side for ‘winning ugly’ against West Ham:
“You have to find a way to win and today we won ugly. We have to recognise that is the way we had done it.
“We showed incredible spirit because when we could play the way we wanted to play we had to find a way to play the way they prefer. We adapted. You have to find a way to win all the time to win – forcing…
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