‘Great to Have Him Back’—Mikel Arteta Lauds ‘Phenomenal’ Arsenal Star After Olympiacos Win

Arsenal extended their winning run to three matches by beating Olympiacos.

Mikel Arteta oversaw his 299th as Arsenal manager midweek. / James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images

Mikel Arteta described Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard as “phenomenal” following his side’s 2–0 Champions League victory over Olympiacos on Wednesday evening.

Having beaten Athletic Club on the road in their first European outing of the season, Arsenal maintained their perfect record in the league phase with a hard-fought victory against their Greek visitors.

Gabriel Martinelli fired Arsenal in front early on and Bukayo Saka eventually wrapped up the victory in stoppage time to ease the growing nerves inside the Emirates Stadium.

However, it was Ødegaard who was the Player of the Match, pulling the strings for the Gunners from the first minute until the last. He assisted Saka’s late effort and also led the way for touches (88) and chances created (four) during the clash.

Arteta understandably lavished praise on his skipper during his postmatch press conference, while also insisting the Norwegian has “total freedom” to impart his creativity on proceedings for the Gunners.

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“He’s got all the license in the world to go forward, Martin, and to play with that freedom, and to play with that level of threat especially, not only with the passes, but the way he was taking the ball, carrying the ball, making runs and arriving in really dangerous areas,” enthused the Spaniard.

“I think he put three people through today to score a goal. He should have scored a goal as well. So, great to have him back. He played some very good minutes in Newcastle to help us to win the game, and I think today he was phenomenal.”

Arteta added: “I think that creativity part is his nature. It doesn’t bring any pressure to him because it’s his best ability to generate things that not a lot of players can do.

“He has total freedom from my side to do and to explore and to take risks and to feel the movement and where he needs to generate those spaces. I think he's certainly done that in the last two games.”

Arsenal, whose winning run now stands at three games, will play their final match before the upcoming international break on Saturday when they host struggling West Ham United, and the Gunners know they will finish the weekend top of the Premier League should they beat the Irons and Liverpool drop points at Chelsea.

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