Mikel Arteta made an honest admission about the Martin Odegaard penalty during Arsenal’s win over Crystal Palace last night.
Arsenal earned an incredibly hard-fought 1-0 win against the Eagles at Selhurst Park, after being forced to play one third of the match with 10 men.
The Gunners took the lead early on in the second-half after Eddie Nketiah was brought down inside the penalty box by Palace stopper Sam Johnstone.
Odegaard calmly tucked away the spot-kick, but it was a real surprise to see the Norwegian step up rather than Bukayo Saka.
So what did Arteta think of the Arsenal captain taking the spot-kick rather than the England international?
Mikel Arteta makes Martin Odegaard admission after Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 1-0
The Gunners boss spoke to reporters after last night’s win against the Eagles.
And Arteta responded when asked if Odegaard is now his regular penalty taker, as quoted by Football.London:
“I was surprised like everyone else.”
That sounds to me like Arteta didn’t like the fact that Odegaard took the penalty duties away from Saka.
At the end of the day though, the Norwegian scored, so there’s not much the Spaniard can do.
And it must be said, having different penalty takers is always a smart move, in order to keep the opposition goalkeeper on their toes at all times.
It will be really interesting to see which player steps up from the spot now, next time Arsenal are awarded a penalty.
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